Meet Theodore Roosevelt

Once again, it is October 27 – the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States.

A longtime fan, I’ve read more than a few things about him over the years.  I've remained current on my membership dues for the Theodore Roosevelt Association.  I’ve visited a few of the places where he left his mark during my travels.

And I always appreciate sharing a good Roosevelt story.  I don’t even know how much he is talked about in schools anymore, but it probably isn’t very much.  I'm still surprised how many adults seem to have never heard of him.  (See "Teddygram.") 

So I share my own stories when I can…and today seems like a good day for it.

See, I found special favor for "TR" at a very young age.  (That’s me being cool and “inside” – “TR” for “Theodore Roosevelt.”  I’m sure you would never have gotten that on your own.)  As a kid, I had a whole series of books about the different presidents, Indian tribes, animals, and plenty of others I could have made my “favorite.”

But mine was Roosevelt, and it isn’t a real surprise in retrospect.  When I was very young, I wrestled with asthma on a regular basis.  Missed a lot of school.  We had only three television channels; you remember that?  There was no such thing as a “video game” yet, though my handheld Mattel electronic football game was not too many years away.

So absent all these other forms of entertainment…I would find myself propped up in bed, upright so I could breathe easier, reading every book on my shelves.

It was from one of those books that I first learned about Roosevelt.  Learned about his presidency.  Learned about his role as one of the volunteer “Rough Riders" during the war to liberate Cuba.  Learned about the speech he gave in Milwaukee only moments after taking a gunshot wound to the chest.

And I learned that as a kid, he had asthma…and he would find himself propped up in bed, upright so he could breathe easier, reading every book on his shelves.

I hadn't had that book for many years, but I had retained the picture in my head of what it looked like.  The cover, the pictures inside, the shape of the spine – I thought I remembered it all from, what, thirty-five years ago?  So I got online and started “googlin’.”  I found a copy in a used bookstore, paid more that I should have probably, and waited with baited breath until it finally appeared in my mailbox.

Meet Theodore Roosevelt – yep, that's what I remember.