We found an authentic Chinese restaurant. It wasn’t the cleanest place. The walls were stained. We sat at a booth where the table with its formidable carved wooden legs was a bit sticky. Although I hate to admit it, I think universally, greasy spoons have some of the best food. The menu was extensive with some […]
The city had its characters. But then there were floaters, like the portraitist. He was slim with jet black hair and looked thirty something. He sketched people without their knowledge or consent. He sketched me. I saw him for a few weeks on the stoops throughout town; pad, pencils, and eraser at hand. But I […]
Have you ever driven in white out conditions, where the falling snow swirling around in the wind resembled cotton candy? How about after your first eye exam, where no one told you that your eyes would be putting on a fireworks display for about an hour? And what if that eye exam happened after dental […]
A few years ago, my sister wisely observed that when people grow up they tend to fill some gaps of their real or perceived unmet childhood desires and expectations. It’s probably why middle-aged men buy sports cars. Mid-life crisis? Maybe. But maybe it’s not that they want to recapture their youth, as much as it’s finally […]
When I first became a believer, I was embarrassed by some of my new fellow Christians. Particularly the bumper sticker brothers and sisters. I remember waiting in a parking lot for Rob when a real clunker of a car pulled in. The disheveled owner parked and tumbled out in a cloud of dust. The car was […]
The day was gray and bitter with intermittent freezing rain. It was 1977 and Thanksgiving was a week away. Rob and our two-year-old son, both sick with colds, were huddled on the bedroom floor beneath a blanket fort. The fort was amply furnished with books, toys, pillows and tissues. A short safe distance away the […]
Thanksgiving will be just me and him. This happened once before. I don’t remember the reason back then but this year it’s Covid. That one other time we opted for chicken instead of turkey since it was only the two of us. I called my mom and she asked how the holiday went. I told her […]
When a train goes off track, it’s an immediate disaster. When people do it, it’s a slow ride until it seems out of nowhere, there it is. Disaster! It’s so easy to eat the wrong foods, drink the wrong drinks, and put everything good for us off for some future day. A train running on […]
My sex at birth is unknown. That’s what it says on my latest blood results. I’m also non-Hispanic. Just a few years ago the case was made for accuracy in sex, age, race, and weight in medical tests so a patient could be treated properly. I recently saw a cousin whose parents and grandparents on […]
I’m sitting on the patio with a cup of coffee and a square of chocolate, taking in the ghosts of the departed. Two chairs are where they left them, close to one side of the table, both for shade and conversation under the umbrella. A short distance away, an ashtray now empty, rests on a […]