A Man Called Sam When I was growing up, I stayed with my grandparents on the weekends and during my summer vacations from school. Not because I was sent there but because I loved being with my grandparents. And, when I was 7 or 8, there were no other kids in the neighborhood my age, so my… Read More »
The Witch of 42nd Street The world has changed so much since I was a kid. I suppose every generation has said that. My grandfather saw the first cars, the first airplanes, the first radios, the first telephones, the first TVs, and the first color TVs, and he lived long enough to see a man set… Read More »
Finding Christmas Magic It’s the day before Christmas Eve. The Christmas lights glowing in the rain do not look like Christmas lights to me. They look old and hazy and out-of-place and oddly out of time. I feel as though I have suddenly been thrust into the middle of March and people have forgotten to take down… Read More »
It’s Too Late Now They said it was suicide, but I knew it wasn’t. Lilly would have never taken her own life. She was too close to God for that. I’ll never forget the day she died. I’ll never forget the paramedics, the sirens, the ambulance and rescue squad truck descending upon her house on that late-summer… Read More »
A Gift From Maryanne – Reprise Introduction This essay was written in 2008 and it remains one of my personal favorites. I’ve made some changes to it. I keep updating it so it is now more a short story than an essay. Every time I re-read it I am reminded of the truly important things in life.… Read More »
Fancy Phones and Apologies to Beethoven I was looking at smartphones the other day – thinking maybe it’s time to get rid of my old flip phone. Not flip-flops! But it is that time of the year for everyone who does not have toenail fungus – if you do, skip the flip-flops. Please. No. I don’t use… Read More »