Growing up there was a field next door. It was originally owned by my grandparents, my father’s parents. Like our lot had been before they sold it to my parents to build on. They lived in a house on the lot next to ours that they built in the 40s. My dad grew up there […]

What a weekend. Scoot out of town to rendezvous with your wife’s brother’s family at their cousin’s family’s homestead about an hour northwest of the city of liberty, brotherly love, the stairs that Rocky Balboa climbed, and the cheesesteak that he would have eaten had he indeed been a person. (Though his presence is felt in […]

I only took my shoes off for a brief moment. When I put them back on there was something lodged in the right one toward the toe. I felt it when I slipped ’em back on. So strange. I don’t know how it could have gotten there but there it was. So I slipped it […]

The sun rises. The sun sets. Both are beautiful but for different reasons. In the morning the sun is the wind at your back. In the evening it’s always just around the corner. A sunrise kind of just happens. But so does a sunset. And it all depends on where you’re standing. For both how […]

When children don costumes, climb on a stage, and compete for your affection, you have yourself an elementary school talent show. Last Friday was my first. I never performed in one when I was a student. There was this play festival in high school. I played Greg Brady. It’s not the same though. Too old. […]

My first job, other than the paper route, was as a stock boy at a national office supply store chain. I still have the name badge. And the box cutter. And a bunch of stories. Adeline drew one out of me tonight when she asked me how come I don’t do pranks on April Fools. […]

Would you rather be a king or a knight? Or a queen or a mermaid perhaps? Kings and queens do sit in castles. They’re not known for wanting much. They drink red wine and can afford a spill. Their shines are shinier and their laughter’s a fever. But mermaids and knights are otherwise engaged. They […]

Sometimes I feel fear. But I am not paralyzed. Sometimes I feel anxiety. But I am not worried. Sometimes I feel threatened. But I am not in peril. Sometimes I feel perplexed. But I am not confused. Sometimes I feel encumbered. But I am not oppressed. Sometimes I feel resisted. But I am not thwarted. […]

You remember it, don’t you? When the woods was all there was. Those woods went on forever. You couldn’t imagine their limit. So you set out to see them, the woods that never end. As they unraveled, they became familiar. Though at first it was all new. The pattern of the trees. The rocks and the rises. […]