The news has been depressing: Impeachment Hearings for President Trump, California wildfires, and a school shooting seemingly every few weeks to name a few. You try to keep your head up, keep positive thoughts, and go about your own business, but it can be challenging. To help in that area, I like to find my …
Shutting down Mom & Dad’s taxi service
I looked up from my phone to look out the car window. Nothing. I went back to scrolling through social media and chatting absentmindedly with my wife about her day. We sat in the dark in our car waiting for our son to finish up from his school’s marching band practice. A few minutes later, …
Snoopy and Teddy: The best of friends
In a long running gag from the comic strip Peanuts, Lucy tells Charlie Brown that she’ll hold a football for him to kick. Charlie Brown refuses to kick it at first, not trusting Lucy, not wanting to get burned again. The two go back and forth until she convinces him to trust her. Charlie Brown …
Too many books, too little time
The young girl’s eyes bulged out of their sockets looking all around the store. Her head was on swivel looking right, then left, and then back again. She let out a huge smile. She couldn’t believe her good fortune. When she saw that the bookstore had a second floor, her smile stretched even further and …
Getting the doctor’s diagnosis: Live like you were dying
The dentist came into the room with a copy of my dental x-ray in his hand. He gave me a big smile, that actually made me more nervous than calm, and went out of his way to promote the benefits of the practice’s 360-degree panoramic x-ray machine. He explained how the x-ray shows all the …
Continue reading Getting the doctor’s diagnosis: Live like you were dying
New challenges
I walked into work distracted and annoyed. I had been working for my hometown newspaper for more than a year. I had a million things on my mind. I nearly knocked over one of the press workers that I passed in the hall. Another coworker held a door open for for me and I walked …
In this house
My wife has a sign in our living room that lays out our house rules. I'm not sure where she got the sign, a home furnishing store, an art store, who knows? The sign is simple enough. It's not that large, maybe 10 by 17 inches long, nothing too big. The sign's message has just …
Horror of all horrors: Why I can’t watch horror movies
I blame it on Carrie. There have been some great horror movies over the years. Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Psycho, The Shining, and the Exorcist all come to mind. I’m a big, tough burly man and I sheepishly avoid them all like the plague or some crazy man with a chainsaw roaming through the …
Continue reading Horror of all horrors: Why I can’t watch horror movies
On second thought . . .
I think I might have spoken too soon. The guy got out of his work truck and started walking toward the convenience store. He had paint and grime up and down his pants and he took long, slow steps that seemed to take everything he had. He looked tired and all business, but when he …
When life doesn’t make sense
Last I checked, 2 + 2 still equals 4; two wrongs don’t make a right, and a neutral atom still needs the same number of electrons and protons (at least that’s what I learned long ago). Sometimes though life has a way of surprising you. For example: --You carry your phone with you throughout the …
