I have an older brother by thirteen months, so we are really close to being “Irish Twins.” As a parent and now grandparent, I can’t imagine having two boys this close in age and I am sure we were a handful. One day mom went to the basement to do laundry and my brother and […]
My granddaughter and I are pretty good buddies. In church on Sunday, she wanted me to hold her while we were standing and singing songs. It made me realize that this was coming to an end. Not next Sunday, but it’s coming to an end. She is going to reach the height and weight where […]
We played co-ed volleyball with three other couples and all our children are boys. So naturally our team was named Boys-R-Us. While our families have transitioned and we don’t all live in the same community, we’ve maintained our friendship. It started very innocently. A friend put a metal wishing well on a rummage sale. As […]
It’s Eclipse Week and it has been described as a “once in a lifetime” experience for some, especially here in the United States. Certainly, it is an event that comes along rarely and is a day that is marked as a day to remember. I was holding down a button in my car and it […]
This was one of those weeks. Two people died unexpectedly. Neither I knew well, but well enough. The brother of one of my good friends fell down a flight of steps, suffered significant injuries, and it didn’t end well. The other was a person I’d served on a community board with and died very unexpectedly […]
Everyone spends part of their lives alone. Even in the midst of the busiest cities, even when surrounded by people, we can be alone. Starting a job where I work out of our home and travel, I’ve been spending more time alone. It’s different. It’s not that I have much to complain about – it’s […]
This summer I’ve enjoyed getting on my bike more regularly. There is a nice bike trail near where we live and it is a 19-mile loop around the city. There are several things I like about the trail. It follows a river and has some good scenery. It’s fairly level. Often I see birds and […]
I’ve had some different relationships with death. Growing up, we rarely would go out to eat. If dad had a funeral and received an honorarium, he’d take the family to a restaurant. While I can’t say I hoped for people to die, it sure was nice to go out to eat every once in a […]
At the prayer service for my buddy Rob, I wasn’t able to bring myself to get up and speak. It was something I should have done, but this is what I meant to say. Rob was a Yankees fan and yet he went to at least a dozen Twins games with me. Those were trips […]
Had a conversation with a man whose wife had recently died. She was a vibrant person – high energy and full of life. She developed dementia and he told of his daily visits, her decline, and how the disease took her vibrancy, her energy, and eventually her life. But the saddest part was he shared […]