Writing from the Heart with Brian
Think, Laugh, & Cry Each Day
When a customer service representative asked for the best way to contact me recently, I immediately started giving her my childhood phone number. I haven’t thought about the phone number in more than 25 years. I’m not even sure it works anymore. And it came blurting out of my mouth in a rapid-fire response like I... Continue Reading →
The over-achiever in me was upset. The hard worker, who has long prided himself on his work ethic and productive time management skills, had wasted an entire day. I had a day off from work and family obligations, the first in months, and I did nothing. I let the vacation day slip between my fingers... Continue Reading →
A number of years ago, I wrote a feature story on some of the financial challenges that a small Northern Virginia homeless shelter and food bank faced staying open. I got to thinking about the shelter recently and two people I met when I visited. The exchange between the two spoke volumes about them . .... Continue Reading →
One hot sticky summer night, two old-timers and a young guy from a nearby factory came into my grocery store line, where I worked as a teenager, and started to complain about the “damn women-libbers” who were trying to take their jobs. They had only a few items and I worked quickly to get them through my... Continue Reading →
I’ve always been awestruck by the challenge special education teachers face on a daily basis. I became even more impressed a number of years ago when I served as a weekend camp counselor for a mentally and physically disabled boy. I found the experience eye-opening. . . . . . . Joey, a 12-year-old boy with... Continue Reading →
I learned a valuable lesson on aging this week. We ran into two elderly women that we know well. They’ve both lived long productive lives, well into their seventh and eighth decades. They have also faced their share of ups and downs, highs and lows, births and deaths and everything else in between. The first women told my wife... Continue Reading →
We as a society celebrate athletic excellence: the last second shot, the game winning touchdown. We rarely celebrate the hard work and the behind-the-scenes steps leading up to the game-winning act. The day after the Villanova University Wildcats won the NCAA National Championship over Goliath-like University of North Carolina, The New York Times detailed how... Continue Reading →
A number of years and several jobs ago, I worked with a coworker who knew my schedule better than me. Her job was to help keep a number of projects that I led moving and out the door. She’d let me know when design and layout had something for me to review, when the print shop ran into... Continue Reading →
I've been busy the past couple of days coming up with the Ten Commandments of Brian. Best selling author and blogger Gretchen Rubin suggests that readers of her book, “The Happiness Project,” establish a list of personal commandments to be used as overarching principles and guiderails to help lead a happy life. Other philosophers, self help... Continue Reading →
Writing from the Heart with Brian 
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