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Lessons from Everyday Life
By Theodore Lewis
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Dec 7
Don’t wait ‘til it’s too late
Why is it that when someone you know becomes “someone you knew,” you suddenly think of how much that person meant to you?
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Nov 9
Sports’ highs and lows
Bridgman, MI -- Ever since I was a kid, growing up in Holly, Michigan, baseball has meant the world to me. During the lazy days of...
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Oct 5
My lucky day
Bridgman, MI— In my previous column, I told the story of the last speeding ticket I had and the promise I made to my wife, Sharon, to...
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Aug 31
Beep beep beep! Here comes the fast driver
Bridgman, MI -- Growing up in Michigan during the heyday of the American auto industry was exhilarating. As a kid, automobiles were No. 1...
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Aug 9
Every mile a memory: A trip back to 907 Academy Road
Bridgman, MI—Many of us have a childhood home where we grew up and where fond memories have stayed with us throughout our adult life. I...
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Jul 7
The fateful seconds
Bridgman, MI-- My first recollection of distracted driving was riding as a child with my parents in mid-Michigan in the late 50s,...
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Jun 6
The toll road called ‘dementia’
Bridgman, Mi— The toll road called dementia is an enormous and complex highway that leads to a very bumpy ride. When my wonderful wife...
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May 5
The good, the bad and Jim's wisdom
Bridgman, MI-- In 1968, the students of Adelphian Academy, a wonderful secondary educational institution in Holly, Michigan, were being...
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Apr 5
Standing up to the bullies
Bridgman MI— When I moved to Maine in 2002 to start my tenure as CEO of Parkview Hospital, I learned quickly of the decades-long bullying...
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Mar 3
Bad day blues
Bridgman, MI--I thought Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, was going to be the culmination of a decades-long dream of seeing my beloved Detroit Lions...
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Feb 3
Customer service outsourcing
Bridgman, MI— To me, the greatest joy at Christmas has always been giving gifts to others that make them feel special. In early December...
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Jan 6
Remember the Covid days?
Bridgman, MI—The first wave of Covid-19 hit the U.S. about four years ago, yet seems like ages now. During those first months of the...
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Dec 6, 2023
The way it works: Connections and politics at Guam Memorial Hospital
It was a typical, beautiful morning on Guam. I was a passenger riding with my finance executive from Guam Memorial Hospital to a meeting...
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Nov 5, 2023
What is it about the number 7 that is so unique?
Bridgman, MI—There are seven wonders of the world. Seven deadly sins. Seven colors in the rainbow. Seven swans a swimming. Seven dwarves....
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Oct 15, 2023
And thereafter a lasting friendship blossomed
Bridgman, MI—In the last line of the movie “Casablanca,” Rick says; "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."...
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Sep 9, 2023
In good company: Recollecting my 'winning team' experience
Bridgman, MI—My first recollection of a “Winning Team Experience” was the 1957 World Champion Detroit Lions. This is one of the first...
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Aug 5, 2023
A single strawberry speaks volumes
Bridgman, MI—The strawberry to me has always been a symbol of love, friendship, goodness, and of course, deliciousness. Growing up in...
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Jul 6, 2023
Embracing the brave old world after Typhoon Mawar
Bridgman, MI— Ten days after typhoon Mawar devastated Guam, I saw a picture of one of my educator friends there reading a book outside...
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Jun 18, 2023
Finding solutions
Bridgman, MI— During my time on Guam, I got to know several healthcare workers in the Philippines, and learned of the talent and huge...
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May 30, 2023
Being scared
Bridgman, MI--This Mawar Typhoon that just passed through Guam (more than 3,000 miles west of Hawaii) had me on pins and needles. I have...
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May 11, 2023
Workers in demand
Bridgman, MI—On a windy, blustery day this March in Southwest Michigan, my wife Sharon and I decided to go out for brunch at our favorite...
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Apr 8, 2023
When darkness turns to light
Bridgman, MI—In June 1958, I had just completed first grade after my parents moved to Holly, MI, about 45 miles northwest of Detroit. One...
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Mar 5, 2023
Cruising through Bermuda Triangle
Bridgman, MI—When Sharon and I married in 2004, we planned our honeymoon to be on a 13-day Grand Holiday Caribbean Cruise of the Cunard...
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Feb 12, 2023
For whom the bells rang
Bridgman, MI—Within the first few months of my tenure as CEO at Parkview Hospital in Brunswick, Maine, things were going marvelously...
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Jan 7, 2023
Searching for love at the Re/Max balloon
Bridgman, MI— After going through a divorce in Louisiana when I moved to Maine as CEO of Parkview in 2002, one of my personal goals was...
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Dec 3, 2022
The ‘extra man’
Bridgman, MI—It was an overcast and chilly November afternoon in Pontiac, Michigan in 1981 as my nephew Michael and I neared the Pontiac...
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Nov 4, 2022
A lesson learned
Bridgman, MI—My first job in a hospital was a summer position at Madison Hospital. Back then it was a full-service faith-based community...
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Oct 8, 2022
The 'apple principle'
Bridgman, MI—It is apple time in Michigan. According to the Michigan Apple Committee, during the apple harvest season of 2022, more than...
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Sep 4, 2022
Boxes of memories
My wife and I recently moved from Maine to Michigan. I hate the process of moving, especially when you must go through all your stuff in...
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Aug 11, 2022
The unfinished song
Portland, Maine— Back in days gone by when I was growing up in Holly, Michigan, a highlight of each summer was the annual 10-day...
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Jul 8, 2022
Just like that, life can change
Portland, Maine—After graduating from Adelphian Academy, a Seventh Day Adventist secondary school in Holly, MI, I felt on top of the...
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Jun 11, 2022
Sometimes they just need a hug
Portland, Maine— It was a beautiful spring day in Pasadena, California. The wisteria and lilacs were blooming, the air was crisp and the...
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May 7, 2022
Breaking a leg
Portland, Maine—Recently, after reconnecting with the good folks at Dockerty Health Care in Michigan, I decided to give them "a leg up"...
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Apr 2, 2022
‘Who dey?’ $4 Super Bowl ticket, anyone?
Watching this year's exciting Super Bowl with the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams reminded me of my attendance at Super Bowl XVI...
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Mar 5, 2022
Miles to go before we sleep
Portland, Maine— On Dec. 31, 2021, I woke up with a hopeful feeling. After the deaths of three good friends in 2021, I was looking...
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Feb 13, 2022
America’s most critical shortage
Portland, Maine — Almost every industry in the U.S. today is dealing with a shortage of workers. The delta and omicron variants are...
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Jan 9, 2022
Whatever it takes: the virtue of resourcefulness
Portland, Maine—I had just received my first hospital assignment at Leland Memorial Hospital in Riverdale, Maryland (just north of D.C....
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Dec 12, 2021
It ain’t easy being nice
Portland, Maine-- At our favorite breakfast restaurant here in Portland, one of the better wait staff just walked off the job, blurting...
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Nov 7, 2021
The ginger ale trail
Portland, Maine— My wife Sharon and I just completed our first road trip since the start of the pandemic. The distance between South...
By Theodore Lewis
Oct 8, 2021
When the prayer is answered in a roundabout way
Portland, Maine – Growing up in a home of faith facilitated my belief in God at an early age. My father, a great English teacher, writer,...
By Theodore Lewis
Sep 8, 2021
A smile that can change the world
Portland, Maine—The day after attending the “Three Tenors Concert” in the historic Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan in July 1999, I...
By Theodore Lewis
Aug 8, 2021
Warm weather, warm people, sweat-soaked shirt and déjà vu
Portland, Maine— Traveling for the first time since the pandemic, my wife and I booked a flight down to the Maryland-DC area. Prior to...
By Theodore Lewis
Jul 5, 2021
Hope for Guam's health care
Having another hospital in Guam's medical portfolio has brought several advantages to the island’s residents At the end of 2019 prior to...
By Theodore Lewis
Jun 5, 2021
A new promised land
I'm tired of wearing a mask. I'm tired of social distancing. I miss New York's Broadway.I miss breakfasts at First Light in Scarborough....
By Theodore Lewis
May 4, 2021
Hong Kong heart attack
Hong Kong. That mystical place where east meets west. That unique history-filled beautiful territory owned by the British for 100 years...
By Theodore Lewis
Apr 5, 2021
Almost famous
Portland, Maine — I had my first introduction to fame in 1977 during our Andrews University Band trip to Romania, where concert-goers —...
By Theodore Lewis
Feb 3, 2021
An angel in Bucharest
Portland, Maine — My participation as part of a musical group began in my high school band days at Adelphian Academy in Holly, Michigan,...
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Jan 6, 2021
Death takes a life— but not a friend
The 2019 holiday season was inspiring, festive and full of good cheer. 2020? Not so much. Starting at Thanksgiving and ending on New...
By Theodore Lewis
Nov 1, 2020
The Beatles’ antidote to rifts and tiffs
Portland, Maine— On this gorgeous fall Sunday in Southern Maine, my wife and I enjoyed our first cup of coffee and flipped on the TV to...
By Theodore Lewis
Sep 9, 2020
A wedding and a funeral: a tale of two paradises
Portland, Maine-- Two of my favorite places, Guam and Maine, both had their first confirmed case of Covid-19 around Friday the 13th of...
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