Lee Kubichek Nowacek


Expressing gratitude for Lee is an impossible task really — though she’ll be happy I tried.

There are so many gifts that come from being married to her — many (most?) of which I’m not even aware. Here are a few of which I am conscious (sorry for all the omissions, Love. I’ll be adding over time as awareness lights upon me):

  • Went through considerable trouble bringing three kids into the world.
  • Took me to the Take 6 concert in Cain Park.
  • Buys little stuff at the store that she shouldn’t (chocolate and the like) because I’m on her mind.
  • Washes things mentionable and unmentionable.
  • She likes me.

Michael Pearce Donley

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72IbuCApKcE&feature=player_profilepage

 

I don’t really know where to begin — or where to end — with my gratitude for Mike. We met in 1981 at Cleveland Heights High School. He was the star musical performer of the senior class and I was a lowly sophomore.

I had been taking classical piano lessons since second grade and could never quite get excited about it. But it was the only formula I knew. I thought there must be something wrong with me so I kept trying.

Somewhere in all this, I got this great girlfriend. I followed her into Bill Thomas’ Heights Singers. I got a chance to be with the girl — and became a serendipitist. Along came Mike. I was in awe. I couldn’t play the piano like that. More importantly, I wasn’t having his kind of fun. I screwed up my courage and asked him to be my piano teacher. He agreed and my life changed.

Because of him, it continues to change. I got to accompany my then-erstwhile girlfriend for her senior solo, an improv version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I never would have been able to do that — or so many other things — without Mike.

I got to catch up with him yesterday, 29 years later. He was back in Cleveland Heights giving a visiting-home concert. Teary-eyed, I was able to thank him in a way I couldn’t those many years ago when in possession of only a 17-year-old heart and mind.

Thanks, Mike. My gratitude continues to grow.

Here’s Mike’s youtube channel.

“The Credits” Category Added

picture of movie credits on the screenThey run the credits at the end of a movie. I wish they could run the credits at the end of each life. “The Credits” category gives me a place to record the people I must acknowledge as having contributed to mine.

To take up such a project is to guarantee omissions and mistakes. Though many say they do, no one gets it right the first time. Please let me know of the errors I need to correct by leaving a comment on this or any other appropriate post.

Thanks.

My Relationship with God

picture of just the fingers of God and man in the Sistine ChapelI have no other relationship before this one. As far as I can tell, each day brings with it a little better understanding of what that means. Even so, there’s no chance I’ll have it figured out in this lifetime.

Shaker Heights, Ohio, United States of America