What exactly is Words of Wistrom?
I've been telling stories for as long as I can remember. Many friends and business associates have told me that I need to capture and publish them.
Some of these stories will make you laugh, others may make you remember the old days, others may help you to dream. Some will help you fix problems, others may just perk you up a bit. Whatever they do for you - I hope it helps you along your journey....
Family Vacation - Part Two
By jerrywistrom"FAMILY VACATION - PART TWO" By the time we got to Lake George my mom and I would be ravenous. Let me tell you why.... My dad was the type of guy that would get behind the wheel of a car to go somewhere and not stop un...
On Vacation - See Ya Next Week
By jerrywistromI'm on vacation in Beautiful Santa Fe this week. There is NO STORY this week - but I thought you'd like this picture I took today. This is El Sactuario de Chimayo - one of my favorite sacred places. It is considered to be the most ...
Family Vacation - Part One
By jerrywistrom"FAMILY VACATION - PART ONE" When I was young, my family would head off each summer for our family vacation. We were creatures of habit, so we essentially went on the same vacation every year. Yes, there were years w...
MEMORIAL DAY PARADE
By jerrywistrom"MEMORIAL DAY PARADE" From the time I was a child, I always loved the Memorial Day Parade. The parade went right by our house in Goshen, CT. It was formed at the grammar school just down the street. After it...
LEARNING TO SHAVE
By jerrywistrom"LEARNING TO SHAVE" I always wanted to be like my dad. Whatever dad did - I wanted to do as well. I remember watching him shave. There was some amount of awe and wonder watching him do it. ...
TIMMY AND THE MAGIC EIGHT BALL
By jerrywistrom"TIMMY AND THE MAGIC EIGHT BALL" Before we talk about the Magic Eight Ball, you have to get introduced to my cousin Timmy. Timmy was the only son of my favorite uncle. Timmy was about two years older than me, and when you'...
SPOILED ROTTEN - MY DEFENSE
By jerrywistrom"SPOILED ROTTEN - MY DEFENSE" Ever since I was a child I was repeatedly told that I was "spoiled rotten". This is a label that I believe we, as a society, need to banish. Even if we don't banish it - we should take tha...
Bug Spray in the 1960s
By jerrywistrom"BUG SPRAY IN THE 1960s" We heard on the radio that this year is going to be a BAD YEAR for ticks here in Connecticut. Let me change that... It appears that if you're a tick in Connecticut, you're going to have a ...
My Parent's Airbnb in the 1900's
By jerrywistrom"My Parent's Airbnb in the 1900's" You probably think that Airbnb is a new idea. Well, let me tell you what came before it... Back in the 1960s in our corner of the world in New England, it was very common for f...
Why I'm Not Allowed to Have Tools
By jerrywistrom"Why I'm Not Allowed to Have Tools" Tools have never been a strong point for me. Ever. My dad wasn't handy around the house, and he effectively passed that trait on to me. Dad's few tools were kept down i...
The Car Trunk
By jerrywistrom"The Car Trunk" When I was about 10 years old I remember how wonderful it was to be asked to go somewhere with a friend. My friend Kevin seemed to always be going someplace exciting with his mom. K...
Birth of a Salesman
By jerrywistrom"Birth of a Salesman" I've had my own business for over 20 years. And from the very first days of owning my coaching business - until very recently - there was one thing that I absolutely knew: I AM NOT A SALESMAN. ...
Easter Eggs
By jerrywistrom"Easter Eggs" Last week a new friend paid me a great compliment by saying: "You're a mischievous devil, aren't you?" I had to laugh because I hadn't heard the word mischievous in a while. However.... It certai...
Skinned Hands and Knees
By jerrywistrom"Skinned Hands and Knees" Maria waited for me in the car. We were doing our Saturday morning errands. I had to go to the ATM and get something I haven't used in a year - PAPER MONEY. A handyman was coming ...
Dad's Goshen Player Story
By jerrywistrom"Dad's Goshen Player Story" You need some background before I can tell you dad's story, so let me set that up for you: Back in 1949, my dad would have been about 30 years old with a wife and two kids (I hadn't shown u...
Polishing Pixels
By jerrywistrom"Tinkering With Pixels" It was the turn of the century - 2000. I was still in my corporate job but had started the transition to my next career, Business Coaching, and Consulting. Although I had created a number of part-time busi...
My First Official Job
By jerrywistrom"My First Official Job" It was December of 1972. I had just turned 16 and my parents said that if I wanted a car, I'd have to earn the money and buy it myself. I found a job the way the youngest in the family gets a job, follow...
Dad and the Corporate Directory
By jerrywistrom"Dad and the Corporate Directory" I have to admit that this is one of my favorite stories about my father. My dad was a branch manager for the biggest bank in Connecticut in the 1970's. Dad took really go...
A Case of Really Awful Social Networking in Business
By jerrywistrom"Really Awful Social Networking in Business" I'm writing this on Sunday Feb 7. I'm starting with the date because it's important to the story... It's just starting to snow here in CT. My wonderful wife is at work, an...
It's Time to Talk about Time
By jerrywistrom"Its Time to Talk about Time" This sounds crazy, but... the clock in my parent's kitchen was always 15 minutes fast. It didn't get that way because it was possessed or anything. It was meticulously kept 15 min...
Better Crocker Pie Shop
By jerrywistrom"Betty Crocker's Pie Shop" In the summer of 1972 I spent a lot of my time with my two best friends and their dad. Yup, my best friends were Kevin and Tommy Fitzgerald, and their dad, John was a really great man that...
Sight Unseen
By jerrywistrom"SIGHT UNSEEN" January of 2020 I had just pulled into a parking space at my eye doctor's for my annual checkup when I received a call from Jason at GOOD GUYS AUTO HOUSE. Jason and I have been doing business together for ab...
THE GARAGE DOOR STORY!
By jerrywistrom"THE GARAGE DOOR STORY" Our oldest daughter Lauren got her driver's license when she was 16. And despite all those years of watching her take unimaginable risks playing SUPER MARIO CART, her real world driving was surprisingly ...
The Plan for the New Year
By jerrywistrom"The Plan for the New Year" Every New Year I knock out a plan. You probably do as well. Some of the plans are simple. Some are detailed. Some of them have all the elements of a "perfect" plan. Others lack ...
New Year's Eve Through The Years
By jerrywistrom"New Years Eve Through The Years" My oldest memories of New Years Eve are probably my best and happiest. I was probably 10-12 years old. Mom would pull out the bag of New Year's hats and garlands and noisemak...
Types of Snow
By jerrywistrom"Types of Snow" Yes, I've heard that the Inuit have lots of words for snow. Although we may not distinguish them in quite the same way, being a New Englander - I've got some classifications for snow. I know I'll mi...
Christmas Parties with GLOGG
By jerrywistrom"Christmas Parties with Glogg" Growing up in Goshen Connecticut in the 1960's was quite an adventure - especially at Christmas time. There were two Christmas parties in town (at least those were the only two that my family ever ...
Stollen Bread
By jerrywistrom"Stollen Bread" There are lots of traditions in every culture. My family of origin had a number of Christmas traditions, enough for me to write about a different one each week during December. One of the absolute cornerst...
Nothing Like a December Birthday!
By jerrywistrom"Nothing Like a December Birthday" My birthday is December 2. Yea Me! The circus animals that you see above are the closest I could find to the little plastic animals that my mom put on every birthday cake. ...
Thanksgivings Gone By
By jerrywistrom"Thanksgivings Gone By" I'm not sure I could distinguish one Thanksgiving from another growing up. They were superbly scripted, and that script was run year after year. Here are some of the major points: Stuff...
The $250 Hammer
By jerrywistrom"The $250 Hammer" I remember being outraged when I read about the government being overcharged for tools back in the 1980's and 90's. It angered me that companies would overcharge for goods and services AND that the government woul...
Prepping for Winter
By jerrywistrom"Prepping for Winter" Right after Halloween my family would begin the process of preparing for winter. This seems like such an old way of thinking about the seasons. Here in the 2000's winter is is just the time to change c...
Typing Tax Bills
By jerrywistrom"Typing Tax Bills" Its Election Day. And when I think of election day - I remember my dad. I remember him because for as long as I was growing up in that small town of Goshen CT, my dad was "elected" tax collector.&nbs...
Apparently Not a Visionary
By jerrywistrom"Apparently Not a Visionary" I think I'm fairly smart. OK, so I wasn't the class valedictorian, but I was smart enough... But apparently I'm not a visionary - and I have proof. In the early 80's when...
The Old Furnace
By jerrywistrom"The Old Furnace" My parent's house was ancient. I don't know the exact date, but it was built in the 1700's. God only knows what heating system was originally in the house, but sometime before I was born, it was "UPDATED" t...
Corporate Life in the 1970's (PART ONE)
By jerrywistrom“Corporate Life in the 1970's (PART ONE)” I started with Aetna in 1979. The first thing I remember is getting that employment offer letter. When I opened it - I couldn't believe my eyes. The starting salary would be $...
Dad's Marriage Jokes
By jerrywistrom“DAD'S MARRIAGE JOKES” My dad knew how to tell a joke. There's a skill involved in telling a joke, and my dad had that skill mastered. When he told a story or a joke, his face lit up and you knew that he enjoyed every seco...
The Value of Teamwork
By jerrywistrom“The Value of Teamwork” There's something special watching a team do a project. I've had three great examples of teamwork with contractors at my home this year - and one that was "not so great". In no particul...
Teamwork and Home Improvement
By jerrywistromTeamwork and Home Improvement” If you're a homeowner, have you ever had one of those years where it seemed like every time you turned around you were pouring HUGE amounts of cash into the house for maintenance and improvements?&nb...
Sharp Sticks and Apples
By jerrywistromA couple of months ago while we were visiting our kids on the west coast, they took us to DOG BEACH. That's right. A beach just for dogs and their owners. Probably half of the people there were throwing balls...
My First Three Jobs After Graduation
By jerrywistromI graduated UCONN in May of 1978 (by the grace of God and the skin of my teeth - but that's another story). My bride to be and I already had the wedding planned - and it was only 4 months away. Getting a job?...
About That Pilot's License
By jerrywistromI thought that flying an airplane would be so cool - and it was.... I couldn't wait to learn about every dial, gauge, lever, switch, handle, control, radio, etc... Oh the technology.. And also - I'd be able to get any...
Mid Flight - Pop Quiz
By jerrywistrom“Mid Flight - Pop Quiz” I was so happy learning to fly an airplane. It was something I had longed for since watching "SKY KING" every week as a boy (go google that, you millennials). Pilot training was a mixture...
Arethusa Farm in the 1960's
By jerrywistromI can still see it in my mind's eye. It was after dark on a hot summer night when my dad decided we had to have ice cream. Actually, we had to get ice cream to make my dad's famous black and white milk shakes. (T...
Maya and the GOGO Juice
By jerrywistromMAYA CLEMENTINE FELLOWS When our daughter Lauren and her hubby Rob told us they were expecting last summer - the entire family cried with joy. And when Maya was born on April 2nd 2020, we were in ...
Tastes and Memories
By jerrywistrom“Tastes and Memories” I’ve missed the taste of Coca-Cola. I’m talking about the Coke that came in a small green bottle out of a vending machine. When they changed the formula over to corn syrup in 1980 in the USA – I kne...
Dad and the 1964 Ford Mustang
By jerrywistromMy dad managed the Harwinton, CT branch for the Hartford National Bank. He was a banker who knew everyone in the community. His bank was the only one in town, and dad absolutely cared for each of his customers. One...
Mr. Old School
By jerrywistrom“MR. OLD SCHOOL” My parents grew up poor. They weren’t sharecroppers or anything like that – but they came from a mill town from parents who were mill workers and policemen. They ended up middle class – even th...
Bull Crap
By jerrywistromWelcome! To the very first issue of Words of Wistrom. I'm kicking it off with one of my favorite stories about my father - Art Wistrom. ...