I laugh loud and am amused easily, which makes me the ideal member of any audience. It’s a full-body laugh that makes me hit my head on the back of the chair, even slide off onto the ground. Kids either love my laugh or are afraid of it, as it foghorns its way into the roo… Read more...
Old Friends
Oh, what great fortune to have old friends!
Old friends who make you laugh with a word, who tell you like it is, who call you on your shit, who wave to you from your memories…
Old friends have watched you drop your breadcrumbs; they know where you’ve been and how far yo… Read more...
Rain, Spiders, & Mosquitoes
Upon realizing it was raining on the way down to take out the trash, my daughter asked me, “Why do we have the rain… and mosquitoes and spiders and all that? Why can’t it just be ladybugs and humans?”
Answering a child’s questions helps us tackle prof… Read more...
Conversation Vacation
Looking to get away?
The next conversation you fall into, let go of everything you know, even the notion that you already know the person in front of you. Listen to their voice ask they talk, the vibration, the up and down of it. See their face, how much their mouth moves, how the… Read more...
Stay or Go?
Staying in the same job for several years can almost be like falling into a depression.
It swallows you up and that’s all you see. It’s not so much whether the job is good or bad; it’s just that you can easily lose the ability to compare your surroundings to thos… Read more...
Sick
I hate being sick because I love being in power. (…In power over my own self, that is.)
When I’m healthy, I can bop away bad emotions, I can summon energy when I need it, I can WILL myself to wherever I need to be.
Not true when I’m sick.
When I’m sick, IR… Read more...
Boat Drinks
There is this thing I do during the day that I rarely tell anyone about, where I picture myself later that evening sitting in my favorite chair, drinking tea, and reading my book.
Seems harmless enough…
I got this idea from a movie: a bunch of mobsters when they’re abou… Read more...
The Great Return
I’m generally a jolly guy so people will probably be surprised when they hear I think about being dead every once in a while. Not in a morbid way, if that’s possible, just as sort of an overreaction to difficult situations, sort of a quick way out of sudden pain or an… Read more...
Weekday Drinking
I’ve always loved drinking, so it was hard to give up my scotch on the rocks in the evening. No more beer with dinner. Now, it’s tea with honey and water water water. As the decades go by and death’s become more like a relative than a cartoon character, I’… Read more...
The Kindness of Strangers
I love the kindness of strangers. I seek it out, as an observer and a participant. It’s my religion: when the security guard calls me “boss,” the headlight flicker from the car behind me, the man who gave up his seat so I could be next to my daughter, the free c… Read more...