Reibstein 2000
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Greetings from the Reibsteins How did you spend the first and last day
of the Millennium? We closed ours at Sunset Cliffs, toasting a magnificent
sunset, and we opened it exploring the tide pools of La Jolla. In late
Spring we moved again; our address is at the end. In addition to my
adventures his year, we are including a separate page of stories taken from
our daughters’ journals for you who have children. Vanesa wrote about the
three week trip she took to Peru with her mom and her sister Sharon.
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Wasting Away Again in Rosaritaville One Spring Monday morning I got a collect call from Mexico. It was my mom. “I tried to get out of this trouble without involving you,” She said, “But our car has been stolen, we are out of money and we haven’t eaten for thirty hours. Can you come pick us up?” She was in Rosarita beach about an hour and a half from my house with my brother Rick and Bobby, her boyfriend these past three years. You may remember Bobby as the subject of an earlier year’s story entitled Bullet Holes. He was a former LA policeman who was shot on three different occasions. Even more amazing is the fact that none of his gunshot wounds occurred while he was on duty. Although they were with out of food, they still had plenty to drink. By noon my mom and
Bobby were well anesthetized, and on the drive back home they were holding
hands and belly laughing in the back seat like giggling teenagers. I also
learned that Rick had momentarily taken his eyes off his belongings as he
waited for me on the beach, and they became local property. There is more to
this interesting story, but it is long and painful. I only write it because
although I had many interactions with Robert Goldberg these past three
years, this was the last time I saw him. He died a few weeks later of liver
failure at the age of 51. My mom loved him and misses him greatly. |
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Seeing Clearly The first time Rachel wore her contact
lens, she discovered she could see so much better, but now there was another
problem. “Now that I see clearly, the boy I thought I liked doesn’t look
so good anymore.” |
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Park Man On weekends we sometimes go to Balboa
Park in San Diego, where we watch open air acts by magicians, mimes,
musicians and other performers seeking donations. On one visit we saw a
small crowd gathered around a cheerful long-haired man in shorts. He was
vigorously strumming and slapping his guitar, while singing old rock ballads
with great skill and enthusiasm. He had a wrist- watch on his ankle and
sipped Pepsi between songs. We were especially fascinated by him because he
was doing all this despite the fact he was born without arms. |
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Creature From The Blue Lagoon One day while we were driving around on
dirt roads looking for a shorter route to the beach, Vanesa spotted a large
hidden pond surrounded by deep green reeds. We bought rafts and made it our
own private swimming hole. On one of our visits Vanesa noticed something
strange in the reeds As I came closer, I found a large, dead Egret with a
long neck. The two foot bird’s body was stuck in the reeds, while his head
was underwater. I pulled on its webbed feet, and my mouth dropped at what I
saw. Another dead creature with the bird’s head and neck in his mouth (down
to C-5, for you chiropractors). It appeared they had recently engaged in
mortal combat, which proved fatal for both of them. Vanesa and I looked at
each other in stunned disbelief. Can you guess what the second creature was?
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The Wrong Trousers and the Money Scream At the Hometown Buffet, Sharon did
something embarrassing which I am not allowed to reveal. Let’s just say she
had the humiliating experience of being told by a boy, “I think you’re in
the wrong room.” The next day as she and Vanesa were studying, Vanesa
teased her about it, even after I had told her to stop. So I announced,
“Vanesa, I am fining you five dollars!” To my surprise, Sharon
immediately screamed at me. “Daaad! That punishes me too!” “How?”
I asked. “Because Vanesa and I share our money!” |
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Peruvian Stallion Although I told my Peruvian friend
Esther that U.S. Law prohibits the unauthorized gathering of Peruvians more
than once a year, in July the Peruvians had another big reunion in hot and
smoggy Loma Linda. On Saturday night Anas' friend Sally cautioned her,
"You had better tie up your Filly; my stallion is loose.” Ana didn’t get
it, so Sally pointed to a dark corner where our Rachel was engaged in deep
conversation with Sally’s son Roberto. Ana spent the next hour laughing over
Sally's skillful use of the metaphor. |
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Prescott Crime Scene For the past five years we have sent our
children to a camp meeting in the mountains of Prescott Arizona. At
one of Vanesa’s classes I observed some high drama during the finals of the
week long Bible Trivia Tournament. After the winners were rewarded, the
leader noticed one of the electronic buzzers used in the tournament was
missing. An intensive search of the area proved fruitless. Then the agitated
leader explained he had paid a lot of money for the equipment, and that
everyone would be searched before leaving. Things were getting tense and
ugly. Suddenly a boy from the winning team appeared to be looking under a
corner of the rug (a spot already well searched) and “miraculously” found
it! Yet nobody hailed him as a hero. We figured he merely slipped his hand
into his pocket, pulled out the buzzer and said he found it. Apparently in
all his Bible learning he had failed to notice the eighth commandment,
Thou Shalt Not Steal! |
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Whistle While You Play At age 8 Sharon played in her first
tennis tournament. Our family watched with admiration as she played against
girls who were older and more experienced. As she played, Ana noticed a
peculiar whistling sound coming from Sharon’s side of the court. Further
observation revealed she was whistling softly to herself as she played.
After the match we asked her about it and she said, "Sometimes you get
scared and you say to yourself, 'What should I do? What should I do?’ Then
you can just whistle and you’re not scared anymore.” |
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I Will Always Love You I bought a haircut kit and Vanesa (age 11) agreed to be my new barber. We watched the instructional video and went excitedly to the bathroom to give it a whirl. While Sharon watched, Vanesa mowed a path through my hair that was shockingly shorter than we anticipated. Sharon gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. “Oops! I’m so sorry, dad!” Vanesa apologized. “It’s ok. I knew going in this might happen, and I’m ok with it,” I said calmly. “Our only option now is a buzz cut.”
Vanesa performed the gruesome task as Sharon cried quietly. Vanesa gave her
a dirty look and let her know the crying wasn’t helping, so Sharon went
upstairs and drew bath water for me. When I took my bath, there was a
touching note from Sharon with six hearts on it. Dear Dad, I love you so
much that even if you cut your hair until it was BALD, I would still love
you the same. No matter what you do I will still love you the same.
Love, Sharon |
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Mystery of the Loud Cheering Late one afternoon I was walking near the boardwalk of Mission Beach with Vanesa and Sharon when suddenly from the direction of the beach came a loud sustained roar of people cheering feverishly. It was as if the local team had just scored a winning touchdown on the last play of the Superbowl (our home team is the Chargers, so that would be impossible). What was so puzzling is that I knew there were no stadiums on the beach. We walked in the direction of where I heard the sound and found an indoor/ outdoor bar near the boardwalk. There were about 250
people inside and another 250 jammed together on an outdoor patio. I asked
one of the patrons what all the cheering was about, and when he told me, I
was mildly surprised I hadn’t figured it out. For those of you who want to
guess, I’ll reveal the answer under Simple Pleasures. Here’s a hint
–he told me “We do this here every day.” |
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The Good, the Bad, and the Sucker At sunrise, Steve Wilson and I wiggled into our wet
suits at Imperial Beach, as a serious nineteen year old named Joe approached
us and announced, "I’m from New Jersey. This is my first chance to surf
the Pacific...where can I rent a surfboard?” “Terry here has an extra one
he'd probably sell you for about $75,” Steve said. (I had a $25 yard
sale board in fair condition). “What size you need?” Steve asked.
“Around 5'-10.” Joe replied. Steve pulled out my $25 board and laid a
measuring tape on it. “Sorry Joe, this one’s 5'-11"-- it's way too long
for you.” Steve said, reeling in his tape.
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"Wait a minute!”
Joe
protested. “It's just right! I'll take it! There's just one
problem...all I have on me is the change from a fifty I used for this cup of
coffee; the rest is in my apartment.” “No problem,” Steve said,
collecting the $49. Then he took the hot coffee from Joe’s hands and gave it
to me. “We'll get the $25 later. You’d better give Terry your
sunglasses for collateral.” "Wait a minute, I just started on that
coffee and these are $75 Gargoyles.” he balked. “Do you want to surf,
or not?” Asked Steve. “OK.” Joe muttered, along with some curse
words as he tossed his new Gargoyles into the backseat of Steve’s car. I was
rather amused by Steve’s unusual behavior, so I just went along with it.
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After our surf session
we gave Joe a ride to his second floor apartment and waited for the
remaining $25. When Joe came back, he had a trick of his own. "I only
have $20.” Steve was not amused and protested loudly, but I said
“Its OK . Can we give you a lift back to the beach?” I said, trying to
make up for my friend’s bad manners. "Great!” He replied. “Just
let me go upstairs and lock up.” Just as Joe reached his door, Steve
dramatically punched the accelerator, sending gravel flying and the car
bolting backwards into position for a getaway. Then he stuck his head out
the window and yelled defiantly, “Hey Joe, don't worry about the five
bucks you just shorted Terry.” |
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He
punched the gas again and the tires screeched and burned. It was a
spectacular exit with Joe’s board, backpack and money still in our car.
Steve and I laughed about as hard as two people are capable of laughing. We
pulled over to recover, but whenever we would think of that last startled
expression on Joe’s swindled face, it would send us over the edge again.
After we exhausted ourselves laughing, we returned and found Joe still
frozen to the spot we had left him. He was no doubt wondering how he had so
completely mistaken us for decent men. The sight of our return caused the
color to reappear in his face. “We were just messing with you, Joe.”
Steve said, laughing. Joe no doubt returned to the East Coast with stories
about the hostile Southern California local surfers. |
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Who's The Man? My longest friendship is with Bob Muir,
a man I cherish but seldom see. One day while we talked in my yard, I
noticed an 18 inch alligator lizard. I know from experience these lizards
deliver a powerful bite. “Watch this” I said, as I reached for the
lizard. He opened his mouth menacingly, twisted his neck around and savagely
bit my finger. For effect, I held out my arm with the lizard attached and
chomping down on my finger until blood appeared -- then I pried him off.
“You try it.” Bobby wanted no part of my challenge, so I
reestablished myself as the dominant male. |
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Minutes later we were moving a railroad
tie, and when we dropped it a huge black widow spider ran out.
"Watch this.” said Bob, and he reached down and placed his hand on the
sidewalk in front of the fleeing spider. I screamed like a lady! “Nooooo!”
First, Bob let the deadly spider run across his bare hand. Then he did it
again, only this time he closed his fingers and trapped the deadly spider
alive inside his fist! Then he shook his hand to agitate it. When he opened
his hand the dazed spider descended down its own string, but before it
reached the ground, Bob put his hand under it and let it walk on his palm.
Then he turned his hand over and allowed the widow to walk on the back of
his hand! My mind blew a fuse --Bob was toying with one of the most
poisonous spiders known to man! |
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I asked for an
explanation and here’s what he said. “I am a bee keeper, so I don't fear
poison like you do because I get stung several times a day. I can also sense
when an insect is going to bite; this one was scurrying for cover. And I
don’t think the spider’s fangs could penetrate my thick calluses. We just
have different kinds of fears.” He said. The only thing left to
say is, “Bob, you're the man!” |
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Tennis Update After knee surgery
two years ago, my surgeon told me, “If you must play tennis, stick to
doubles.” I sought out a second opinion from my Orthopedic tennis friend
Mike, and he said, “Just play until you drop.” During that recovery
year, I focused on my daughter’s tennis. This past January my knee felt good
enough to try a tournament, so I did, and won it against some stiff
competition. So I continued. As of this writing I have won seven
tournaments, including the prestigious Southern CA Sectionals, San Diego
Districts and La Jolla Championships. I expect to be ranked around # 2 in
Southern CA in the 45's and #1 in San Diego in the 5.5's |
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Simple Pleasures Little things give me pleasure, like
going for a drive with Ana; seeing Rachel tenderly comforting Sharon
listening to Vanesa or Sharon sing or play the piano; listening to Rachel’s
stories; watching my wife and daughters play tennis; roasting wieners in the
fireplace; or even cheering the sunset. We would like to know what your
favorite things are, too. |
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Cheering the Sunset As
I thought about all those people at the Mission Beach bar getting so excited
about something as “common” as the daily sunset, I realized there is nothing
common about the sun setting over the ocean, and that their passionate
response is the appropriate one. I am sure the Maker is pleased with their
appreciation for his glorious masterpiece. Perhaps He even gives them an
extra measure of joy, which is why they return night after night; or perhaps
they’re all just alcoholics. |
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Favorite Movies Mansfield Park,
All I want to Do,
Drop Dead
Gorgeous and
Keeping the Faith. |
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Love, Terry and Ana Reibstein |