The Little Professor

Ryen Bentley Anderson
September 27, 1979
9:47 PM
6 pounds
20 inches long


1. Ryen’s middle name is Bentley, he is lucky it isn’t Rolls Royce because his brother thought he should be named after a car. As you may have gathered, Ryen's ancestors are RYE, thus Ryen, NOT Ryan.

2. Ryen didn’t like to eat corn when he was little; he thought it would make him fat.

3. Ryen was rarely ill; although he had a hearing problem. The doctor said putting tubes in his ears would help, when they started the process, they found he had adenoids the size of fifty cent pieces. We were used to talking loudly so Ryen could hear. After he had his surgery, he cried when we talked loud because it hurt his ears.

4. I told him I would help him financially until he was ready to 'be on his own' after college. He announced in just a few months he was ready.

5. He had no early interest in going to nursery school. I remember something about he didn't want to grow up like his brother and sister. The kindergarten teacher thought it might be a problem. I asked her what type of problems. She said, “Oh, like what it means when the teacher turns off the lights or how to line up.”

6. Ryen and I ordered a movie via cable. He was sure it would be on his television, I was in the living room waiting for it to start. It started on his and he was jumping around and broke his toe.

7. When he was in the lower grades, he wrote a letter to the Walt Disney Studios asking for a job; he included that he wouldn’t be available until 1998. He wanted a job as a voice over for a cartoon. He drove the second grade teacher nuts by doing old English lettering instead of writing like everyone else. I told her to give him a break.

8. When he was born, the nurse said, "Five pounds, 16 ounces." The doctor said, "Let's just make that six pounds even."

9. He liked to dress up for Halloween and no matter what, he wanted to do his own make up. He had his own talent for make up including an oatmeal concoction to look like peeling skin.

10. Ryen’s first job was pool guy at the apartment complex. Although he was not 12, he was allowed to swim without an adult supervising him.

11. He loved BBQ ribs. When his grandmother with the dog came to visit, we went to the place on Iowa Street called the Bum Steer and she let him eat as much as he wanted. I think that was the end of him eating pork.

12. He set up the first AOL connection. He was trying to come up with a screen name and password. He looked at the door knobs and decided ORBKNOB would be a good name. He looked at the clock and decided PENDULUM would be a good password.

13. We wanted to know if there were 23 restaurants on Twenty-Third Street in Lawrence, KS. I am happy to report, according to the Yellow Pages, there are presently 32 listed. We also counted curb cuts.

14. He loved He Man cartoons. They were only available on Sunflower Cable. We had a satellite dish that had 130+ channels but we kept the cable for He Man. Most of his TV time was watching the Disney Channel.

15. There were two kids in the neighborhood named Adri and Derek. He and Derek drew a lot of pictures; both of them have an art profession. I think Ryen helped Derek find his way in life. Although working in a doughnut shop is an honorable profession, Ryen was not instrumental in helping Adri find her way.

16. When I was trying to select a color of nail polish at Dillons, he suggested I put a different color on each fingernail. But I only brought one to the check out. No, they weren't tester bottles.

17. He liked Star Wars characters instead of allowance. He may still have the two Star Wars quilts I made for them. Our garage still has the He Man series including a few characters which were redesigned.

18. Bud and Ryen were fighting over a blanket. To solve the argument, their father cut it in half and both of them were unhappy.

19. I am happy to see Paisanos Ristorante is still in operation; it was a favorite of Ryen’s on special occasions. He worked at Paradise Café when he was in high school.

20 He spent several weeks in Germany one summer. When the student came to the United States to stay with us, Klaus wanted to go to Disneyland…………From KANSAS? Think about this: When Ryen was hosted by Klaus family, they went to different countries!

Sending a son to Germany for the summer was expensive. We had met the fees and had some spending money. I hoped he would have at least an additional $250.

We had an ice cream cone bank that sat on the floor in the kitchen. Ryen took it to the bank and the coins put us over the top. The bank had $265 and a little bit more. Never under estimate the power of change.

21. He was into knight armor one year. For his birthday I rented a six foot set of stationary armor for the weekend. The budget wasn't great enough to buy it. He appreciated the thought.

22. He learned all about hair and diet from Melody and her family. He learned about Chinese from Helen and he observed what happens when people say mean and say cruel things from what's her name.

23. He lived in a co op while in college. He was bitten by a brown spider while sleeping. Ask him if you can see his scar.

24. When I visited him in Kansas, I was invited to come to Waxman Candles and make candles!

25. Ryen moved to New York after college. Although he worked for a company, he also did free lance. Splash sent him to France for textile conventions.

26 One birthday, he took himself to Norway. He went to Mexico recently and looks handsome sitting on a donkey.

27. When he moved to Ohio to work for Abercrombie and Fitch, he bought himself a new car. He stated it is nice to drive a car that doesn’t break down. He has zipped all over the country in his Honda.

28. When he was little, he asked his grandmother what to call the dog. She told him to call him anything because he wouldn’t come. He called Criket “Peanut Butter”. He liked to get into the dog's kennel.

I need to publish this, I keep rearranging and changing. Happy birthday, Prince of the Meadow.

Love you.

Mom