Monthly Archives: April 2023

David was a genius, a musician, and a prankster. His genius was confirmed when he was skipped past both the eighth and ninth grades at the same time. Even after that, however, he was still bored by the curriculum. And thus … Continue reading →

Author’s Note: This is fictional and not about me. Binary choices leave little room for error. So many options drill down to heads or tails, anyway. Turn left or right. Cheese or no cheese. Even a presidential vote has only … Continue reading →

It’s Wednesday April 26 and I arrive at the Freedom Boat club marina in Venice to take out Pisces, a 22 foot Catalina Sailboat.  I have never been out of this Marina and when I registered to reserve the boat … Continue reading →

Chuck reluctantly started the drive to see his father, Owen.  He didn’t really want to go but knew he had to.  It wasn’t the long drive that bothered him.  He was not looking forward to the conversation as it was … Continue reading →

The winning coin flip at a football game whether high school or college can produce the momentum in a game where the winning team might never relinquish the lead and wins the game easily. Coin Flip The Indianapolis Colts had … Continue reading →

A sense of calmness gradually swept through my body as I re-read “Fifty Best Hiking Trails of Florida”. It was mid–morning when I arrived at the small gravel parking lot. I was the only one there. I have the whole … Continue reading →

“Go ahead, ask her, Jimmy.” “Nah, I’ll walk over, ask her to dance. She’ll say no, then I’ll walk back and you guys will all have a good laugh. Why would I want to do that to myself?” “Come on, … Continue reading →

A friend posted a picture online recently, accompanied by a passage from John Muir, the Scottish-American naturalist and author.  It read …and into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. I have long believed there … Continue reading →

I was never good at math, and yet I sat there in my backseat prison trying to contemplate the required speed of the car to successfully jump out the door and calculate the exact angle of the roll needed to … Continue reading →

Mom and dad were married in St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church on the west side of Jersey City, NJ. The venue took place on a sunny day in the spring of 1954 with temperatures in the 70’s. The men came … Continue reading →

I grew up as an only and lonely child. However I had toys that were the envy of the neighborhood which didn’t help to make me a popular person.  This one story really is buried in my past but unforgettable. … Continue reading →

Technology is difficult for many adults today. It’s a breeze for today’s seventeen year olds. It’s all they’ve ever known. Try telling them you are going to “write a letter, lick a stamp, put it on an envelope and drop … Continue reading →

Witnesses standing along the perimeter of the small regional airport said the commuter jet didn’t appear to land unusually hard compared to other planes that had touched down just before. At the debriefing, the pilots claimed to have inspected the … Continue reading →

Our fathers grow old, despite their best efforts, and we eventually lose them as they board the last train to glory, to borrow from an Arlo Guthrie song.  My dad departed the station twenty years ago, but he remains with … Continue reading →

Approaching 80 years of life on planet earth facilitates reminiscing. I tend to do that often. What else can I do. In abundance that is. Aches and pains for sure but I seldom had such menaces way back then. A … Continue reading →

I am awake, so I can see, No one will pull the wool over me. My eyes are open, Both ears are peaked, I hear exactly what some people speak. My vision is clear, Whether far or near, Sometimes the … Continue reading →

I grew up slowly among the books of Pat Conroy. The tides and marshes of the Carolina sea islands ran through my blood like a river of gold. The smell of pluff mud burned into my nose singularly from the … Continue reading →

It was an unusually warm September evening. Sweat slowly trickled from Zack’s hairline over the ridges of his wrinkled brow, through his bushy eyebrows, ending its journey directly in the marksman’s eyes. The salty perspiration stung, blurring his vision. It … Continue reading →

IN JUST 5 WEEKS I WILL cycling in Sicily. Prior to booking the trip, I figured by leaving on the 14th of May I would be at the start of the ride on May 15. I usually do quite a … Continue reading →

Bruce Springsteen’s song my hometown, utters, “son, take a look around, this is your home town”. He depicts a special place that’s in our hearts as well as what we remember. Growing up in a suburb of New York City … Continue reading →

I had the foresight to bring along a dictionary. You can always use a dictionary- to raise you up in your seat, stand on to reach for something up high, prop open a door, start a fire and look up … Continue reading →

I sit here on the front porch sipping my hot coffee which is warming my hands nicely. Steam rises and swirls in the light breeze. It’s 30 degrees but my hunter’s vest is enough as the sun streams over me. … Continue reading →

“I got my first sight of your mother when she was sixteen,” my father says.  “I turned to my friend Peter an’ said, ‘There she is!  That right there is the girl I’m gonna marry.’  An’ four years later, I … Continue reading →

On a typical girl’s night out, Carolyn, Ellen and Pamela find themselves at a usual haunt where any Friday or Saturday outing could mean either a concert or a cache of drag queens performing their nightclub cabaret. Tonight was the … Continue reading →

(I shared this with our group last week but since the turnout was small I decided to post it. The story is for reflection, nothing more.) 50 years have almost passed since the last soldier returned. 50 years and the … Continue reading →

I am having my 1984 maverick passing through North Carolina into “The Volunteer” state as stated on a billboard as I enter off route I- 40 on the way to a volunteer football game in early November. As I enter … Continue reading →

See you later, hon.  I’m meeting Bob.  We’re going to leave from his house.  You’re going with Bob Fictitious again?  Yes, we’ll be back in a couple of hours.  Bob, did you contribute already? Yes, I sure did.  I gave … Continue reading →

I sit here on the front porch sipping my hot coffee which is warming my hands nicely. Steam rises and swirls in the light breeze. It’s 30 degrees but my hunter’s vest is enough as the sun streams over me. … Continue reading →

It happened during a two-day period. The Earth seemed to be stuck in the comet’s tail as they cruised through space together. On day three, the unnamed and unexpected comet went on its merry way, leaving a thin coating of … Continue reading →

I am cursed with an inability to avoid telling the truth. Honest! And so, I resort to speaking in clichés. My friends think clichés are timeworn, oft-repeated banalities, devoid of meaning because of their ubiquity, too self-evident to be of … Continue reading →