Among the Angels

At the age of 63, in August 2008, the author withdrew from the practice of law to go back to Kindergarten and observe his wife, Karen, commence her 33rd consecutive year teaching Kindergarten in Room 1 at Grover Beach Elementary School and where, over the next three years, until her retirement in June of 2011, he confirmed her beatific nature, the majesty of her teaching and the beauty of the angels in her care. The one hundred and eighty-four stories in this book are a tribute to a magnificent teacher and her little angels. WHERE ABRAHAM LINCOLN DIED In the week of, and before, Abraham Lincoln's birthday, Karen gave the angels a brief synopsis of the life and importance of Abraham Lincoln, to help explain why he is so revered in American life and forever remembered by the glorious Lincoln Memorial and the national day of celebration to honor his birth. She told them about his childhood in a log cabin; his love of learning, reading by the flickering light of a candle; his prowess as a rail splitter; his exceptional ability as a lawyer; how he became president of the United States; how his leadership won the Civil War; how he freed the slaves; his indelible speeches at Gettysburg and at the second inaugural; and how he was killed just after the war had ended, shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. Immediately after Karen finished, an inattentive angel asked: 'Is he still alive?' Another angel spontaneously responded: 'He died at the movies.'