Omaha - The Long Version

The following is an ode to Omaha and a description of parts of my life. If you read my previous Omaha post (not likely), then you know that this is the longer version of my ode and "the tune is in my head", but not yet available (although I did video myself singing it so perhaps the tune will be posted someday).


Omaha Omaha
Wherever I may roam
Omaha Omaha
You'll always be my home.

Born at St. Joseph's hospital
Home I soon was brought
To Howard Street for the early years
A 50's suburban place to start.

Grades K - 3 at Washington School
Where I learned to read and write
From Fullaway, Berry, Thompson and Hahn
Into school life I gained insight.

Then move my family did one summer
When I was out of town
Never said good-bye to my Howard house
About that I carried a 48 year frown.

To the new house on Western Avenue
Another bedroom shared with Mark
It wasn't until the the basement was finished
To my own room I could embark.

And Western Hills for grades 4 - 6
Where I learned from Winter, Pruitt and Kinsler
Safety patrol and nuclear drills
Neither brought any degree of fear.

Omaha Omaha
Wherever I may go
Omaha Omaha
You'll always be in my heart and soul.

Then off to Lewis & Clark
For my junior high school years
Growing so much in every way
Except from the floor to my ears.

Next t'was off to Central High
Diversity did abound
Debate, speech, band and the Register
I felt like I got around

Omaha Omaha
Wherever I may roam
Omaha Omaha
You'll always be my home.

For college I said good-bye
To my Omaha studies
Headed down to St. Louis town
Thought the move would set me free

Met new people and tried new things
At Washington University
Exposed to new ideas and thoughts
Studied education and sociology

There followed a St. Louis year
With independent work and play
Substitute experiences in the inner city
I remember the lessons to this day.

Omaha Omaha
Wherever I may go
Omaha Omaha
You'll always be in my heart and soul.

After St. Louis and some worldly travel
To Omaha I did return
To start life as a twenty-something educator
From student to new teacher was quite the turn.

First as a teacher substitute
At all my former student year schools
Then to Jackson School for two years of fun and growth
Where I honed my teaching tools.

Then to Monroe Junior High School
Young peoples' minds I was shaping
It was invigorating, an amazing time
I still give the time a high rating.

In fair and quaint Omaha
I set up my own home
Omaha Omaha
You'll always be my home.

But then the call of graduate school
Moved me to Cambridge town
To get a Masters of Education
The plan was to take it back to Omaha town

Learned a lot and got my degree
But the Boston area I wasn't ready to depart
Decided to teach a couple of more years
Brookline gave me my East coast teaching start

But Omaha Omaha
Wherever I may roam
Omaha Omaha
You'll always be my home.

As a fifth grade teacher at the school called Heath
I met my future best friend for life
By the time I completed two years there
I had proposed and made Debbie my wife.

Then instead of heading back to Omaha
I did law school at Boston University
There were good time and challenges
Both law school and life adversity.

Law school led to Brown Rudnick Freed and Gesmer
First to litigation and finally to real estate
Eleven years from associate to partner
The experience was one of growth but for me not quite great.

For still I had a longing
To strike out on my own
So I joined Goldstein & Kaitz
Where I found I liked the small firm practice tone.

And over the years that firm did morph
From three partners to two and then one
A new location, new lawyers and so much more
So much accomplished and more to be done

But still Omaha, Omaha
Wherever I may go
Omaha Omaha
You'll always be in my heart and soul.

And as the years of work went by
My family it did grow
First a daughter, then a son, then another
Life was exciting in ways in advance I could not know.

Living life and parenting together
Nourishing each other and the family
With experiences and love
Growing and maturity we did see

Now one is off to graduate school
To study school psychology and the brain of the child
To a beautiful but cold midwestern state
Where the summers are humid hot, not mild.

And one is venturing off to college
To learn about early childhood education,
He has a wonderful way with those of tender age
Perhaps he will make it his vocation

And one is left at home with us
To complete his high school years
He's at the age when the world awaits him
Everything is a challenge without any fears.

Now each one brings back memories
Of those times in my when there was joy and strife
When I was home in Omaha
And when I left to find my life.

But just as each of my children
Will venture out into their worlds
There will leave behind their home town
To give the larger world s twirl

And I wonder how they will feel
About their Newton hometown
Will they sing its praises forever
Or will they put it down

Whatever they may feel
Whatever they may do
I know where my home heart lies
Where my heart finds what is true.

Omaha Omaha

Wherever I may roam
Wherever I may go
You'll always be my home.
Always be in my heart and soul.