Connections on a walk, Gloria and an iPhone in the lake

On a recent morning, after watching my favorite “CBS Sunday Morning," I ventured out on a walk.  

Near the water treatment facility, I ran into Diane Zipperer and asked about my former fifth-grade student, Lara.  

“Has Lara started veterinarian school yet?”

“She’s in her fourth year," replied Diane, with a tone that implied that she, also, couldn’t believe she was in her fourth year. 

Around the corner, I ran into Catherine McLandress and son Ben. The day before, I had attended Catherine's mother’s funeral. Sweet Martha West made it to 92 years old, and I was glad to hear that Catherine felt that she received the celebration she deserved. 

“She was ready to go,” Catherine added.

“But it’s never easy,” we agreed. 

Twenty-five yards farther I turned east onto the Centennial Trail and chatted with Kip Taylor and his daughter, Riley.  Avid swimmers, cyclists and runners, they had just completed 12 miles of Riley's training for the Spokane Marathon. After a short break, Riley was continuing for 6 more miles, while Kip wisely called it enough.  

I wandered through the NIC campus to my old Fort Grounds neighborhood and chatted with neighbor Brian, who shared the sad news that a mutual carpenter friend of ours had fallen on the job, crushed a finger and had it amputated. We both pledged to get in touch with Joey.   

I continued toward downtown and past The Coeur d’Alene Resort to McEuen Park. At the Dwight Bershaw Memorial, next to Tubbs Hill, I refreshed my acquaintance with Scott and Suzanne, transplants from Arizona who I met while we volunteered for Ales for the Trail. I had the pleasure of telling them the story of Dwight Bershaw, a friend and gregarious lover of Coeur d’Alene who died of a heart attack at age 53. The pocket park was an expression of appreciation for Dwight’s contributions to Coeur d’Alene by the Coeur d'Alene Rotary Club.  

Finally, I smiled as I followed two people who were picking up dog poop along the Centennial Trail. Thank you. 

Good connections happen when I simply go for a stroll. 

Gloria Steinem has departed

Gloria Steinem spent 70 or her 92 years fighting for equal rights for women. Equal pay, equal working conditions, equal opportunities for advancement. Sounds like a good idea. 

And she fought for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.

The core text of the Equal Rights Amendment reads: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." Sounds fair to me. 

It passed the House and Senate in 1972, but in the next 10 years, only 35 of the necessary 38 states ratified it and it died. 

Gloria reflected, “The Equal Rights Amendment failed for two reasons. One, because people didn’t understand it. And two, because they understood it.” 

Gloria started “MS” magazine and a digital version is still published quarterly, 50 years later. 

In an interview shortly before she died, Gloria said, “You have to imagine something before it becomes a reality. I am a hopeaholic.”

Thank you, Gloria Steinem, for being a hopeaholic, and for your efforts for equal treatment for all.

Water and Apple phone progress

In the past 20 years of owning an iPhone, I’ve ruined at least five by jumping in the lake with the phone in my pocket. In the early models, a trickle of water on the phone was enough to ruin it. 

Times have changed. Last Saturday I participated in the annual Belly-Up Masters Swim around Tubbs Hill and back, a total of 3 miles. About halfway around the first lap I realized that my iPhone was still stuffed inside my wetsuit, where I had inserted it ... temporarily ... while I was getting ready. 

When I finished the first lap, after 45 minutes of swimming, I removed my water-soaked phone — and it still worked perfectly.

Thanks for the water resistance improvements, Apple, and for saving me from ruined phone number six.

One amazing thing about our world

The monstrous hanging flower baskets on Sherman Avenue are watered daily and maintained for our enjoyment — year after year. 

Quote about life

“If you wake up deciding what you want to give versus what you’re going to get, you become a more successful person.” — Russell Simmons, cofounder of Def Jam Recordings.

• • •

David Groth retired in 2016 after 37 years in elementary education. His last 17 years, the favorite part of his career, were spent teaching fifth grade and juggling at Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities. He has lived in Coeur d’Alene since 1982 and has always appreciated the people, the geography, the climate, the rivers and lakes, and the simple things that make days special.