When I met my wife, she played violin and would go round from school to school to work with the kids.  So we had something in common then.

We found love and now have three babies and it’s wonderful.

My oldest is Rafael.  Then there’s Theodore.  The youngest is Garth.  Raphael is named after the great trumpet player Rafael Mendez.  I kind of wanted a cowboy name for Theodore, so I named him after Teddy Roosevelt.  Garth is Norwegian which is my ancestry, so it has nothing to do with Garth Brooks.  He just seemed to be a Garth when he came out.

I helped deliver all three boys; I was right there in the room.  I recommend that experience for anyone.  I started late; I got married when I was 56.  Music always seemed to come first.

I’ve had some wonderful relationships with women over the years, and for the most part we’re still friends.

Our best man, Robert, is another school teacher.  He and I hang out a lot together.  We’ve been a support group for one another.  He ended up marrying a woman from the Philippines also.  He married just recently and he’s only a few years younger than I am.

He’s doing well but he’s over – educated; he can’t seem to land a good job.

He and I are interested in a lot of the same things.  We like to go to the cowboy poetry gathering, the rodeos, and that kind of stuff.