Life, Legacy: My Story

A Time for Everything In Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV), Solomon says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” He then goes on to list different categories, some of which I have already written about in this book, but there are others I'd like to add, such as... ...a time of gentleness. When each of the children was first born, I had so much fun watching them progress through each new stage of life from nursing to cooing to rolling over to crawling to walking to uttering their first words and so on. We could just sit there and stare at the kids for the longest periods of time, not wanting to miss any new development. In these beginning stages of life, I enjoyed cuddling up with them on the couch or in their bed (and reading to them sometimes with me falling asleep prematurely). It became a regular routine through most of elementary school that I would read, sing, and pray with them before bedtime. I have fond memories of watching the Little House on the Prairie television series when I was a child, and I passed along that love of mine to the kids by reading aloud all of the books and also watching all ten seasons with them on video. I greatly admire the character qualities that the father, Charles Ingalls, displayed and the many life lessons the children and family learned. Those were precious times of gentleness. ...a time of awakening. I know I have mentioned these before, but because they were so significant they bear mentioning again. My entire life trajectory changed in the summer of 1982 when I gave my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Virtually every decision I have made since that day has been influenced by my Christian faith. I shudder to think what my life may have looked like had I not turned my life over to Christ. Furthermore, in 1992, I discovered my true calling in life – to be a teacher. It was only a few years earlier when I realized that I was created with a purpose of working with children, which is one of the main reasons I switched from banking to working at the YMCA. This decision has been re-affirmed many times over the years and I still find great pleasure in doing what I do. One final significant time of awakening occurred in my early 20s when I finally fell in love with reading. There were a number of influences in my life at the time which encouraged me in that direction, but there is no way I'd be the person I am today if that awakening had not occurred. The things I have read over these past three decades have decidedly influenced who I am today. ...a time of integrity. I have a distinct memory of a time my integrity was put to the test and it involved a cross country race. A couple years ago, the IHSAA decided to begin collecting gate fees for each round of the cross country post-season tournament. Up to that point, spectators only had to pay if they wanted to see the state meet. The set-up of cross country courses makes it challenging to control the entire perimeter, unlike what you can do at most other athletic contests. I knew of an easy way to walk onto the White River course in Noblesville, so when Ben and I showed up for a Sectional meet, I simply skirted around the entrance where they were collecting fees. Afterward, that decision began gnawing at me. I could not shake the prick to my conscience what I had just modeled for my teenage son. Basically, “It's okay to cut corners when you don't agree with something.” I later apologized to Ben and also told him that I contacted the athletic director at the high school to make arrangements to pay the fee that I should have paid that day at the gate. Our lives are full of little decisions like this, and in many cases no one will ever know what you did. Clearly, as followers of Christ, we are called to higher standards than this. Thankfully, I turned this into a teachable moment but I am sorry to say there have probably been other times that I have communicated, by my actions, a different message to my children. ...a time of creativity. I think the lion's share of creativity in my family was passed onto my sister, Carol. Similar to my strong dislike toward reading when I was growing up , I had an equal dislike for writing. Yuck! Early in my teaching career, I attended a workshop by Regie Routman, a longtime teacher, author and speaker. This conference was focused on writing, but even more specifically on writing poetry. This workshop, combined with her book Kids' Poems: Teaching Third & Fourth Graders to Love Writing Poetry, completely changed my mindset about writing. From that workshop spawned a newfound interest in journaling which has since lead to over 20 years of writing weekly Greiwe Family Updates and the publication of A Father's Look Back: a Family Memoir: 2000-2009 and a second book by that same title covering the years 2010-2019. It also inspired me to begin writing each day in the classroom along with my students. Now, I love free verse poetry and have written many, many poems over the years as well as many other genres of writing.