I remember my eldest daughter's moving in. Tomorrow, we leave for my son's moving in, another big event to be burnished into life's memories. And cherished.
My mantra is to be as cool and calm as possible, worried that I don't want my reaction to some minor ridiculous annoyance - like, say, a TSA once again pulling me aside for secondary screening - getting perturbed! I've vowed privately that, if that should happen, to remember my son's reaction to all the times it's happened in the past, even when he was a little kid, when he would snarkingly say in a loud voice, "Oh, yeah, middle aged Jewish guy with children - big threat!" The TSA agents would whip around and stare at this little boy with the wickedly sharp tongue and just the right tone to get an adult's goat. He wouldn't do that now. He's way too cool to let any adult think he's rattled by anything. And he's not a little kid. Not by a long shot. He's taller than me, stronger now (there - I've finally admitted it!), and so smart.
So tomorrow morning, he, his sister, their mom, and me, will board a plane, and jet off to move him in to college, creating another life memory.
All of which is a quite personal way of saying I'll be out of the office on Wednesday and Thursday. I'll return on Friday, with a new memory. That's my personal back story as we prepare tonight's 11 p.m. newscast.
We'll start with the cold - single-digit cold that will make temps tomorrow seem like a heat wave. (It's climbing all the way up to 27 tomorrow!) Meteorologist Lee Goldberg spearheads our coverage.
We'll also have the latest on the shameful scam that led to the arrest of 100 former New York cops and others, accused of falsely filing disability claims as part of their responding to the Sept. 11 attacks. And a bizarre robbery on Long Island, where a Fed Ex driver was tied up and robbed of 65 delivery boxes on his truck.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho (in for Sade Baderinwa) and me, tonight at 11.
Subscribe to my page on Facebook at facebook.com/billritter.wabc.
Follow my tweets at www.twitter.com/billritter7.
