About uncle Ollie

Your author never had a real Uncle Ollie. I wish I did. There’ve been many times I could have used the kind of sage counsel he provides in our many publications.

I was blessed with uncles Bill, Arthur, Joe, Ernie, Eddie, and Louie. No Ollie.

Don’t get me wrong. All my uncles were great guys. All provided hearty laughs, gentle hands, and ready love and support.
I’m sure they were wise, too. But back in the days following the Depression, folks were busy and didn’t have a lot of time to share their hard-earned experience with kids who really didn’t look all that interested anyway. More likely, they were too modest to presume that young folks, with better book-learnin’ then they ever enjoyed, could benefit from anything they had to say.

Then, too, there was my “busy schedule.” I didn’t have the patience to listen to well worn stories bred of the good old days.
I didn’t turn to my mom or dad often enough for advice either. After all, – let’s get real – what do parents really know?
I obviously was not yet aware of the story related by Mark Twain about the father who knew absolutely nothing when his son was twenty, but was revered as a virtual oracle when the son turned thirty. According to Twain, the son was amazed at how much the father learned in just ten years. I guess I was never quite ready for parental input (until it was too late to get it).

However, as time passed and I engaged a challenging career, I began to realize that things would often go a lot better with a little seasoned advice. A few experience–bred tips could make a big positive difference in my adult life and career.
That’s when I began my collection.
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I began to search my memory for things that were said by others during my youth… admonitions made, exhortations voiced, quotes recited. I started to collect sayings and adages that I’d overheard, especially ones that had been passed down for generations but still packed a common-sense wallop.