The Art of Chill

Multicolored abstract painting

The Art of Chill evolves over time. It’s a craft I’ve been practicing since birth.

In youth, it’s about taming your anxiety about the future, being okay with not knowing what lies ahead, taking your hits gracefully. It’s remaining poised and relaxed while … Read more...

Much Ado in the Hotel Lobby

Empty dining tables and chairs

My mom is starting to lose her memory.

Sometimes there are sweet moments, like how she reveres a sunset from her balcony while we drink Budweiser tall-boys.

And then there are the hard moments, like when I watch her forget where she is while walking down the street, when she messe… Read more...

Waterslides

multicolored slide at daytime

Since roller coasters aren’t an option anymore due to my proclivity for dizziness (sob), I went to the water park with my daughter, instead.

We hit the Big Kahuna, The Typhoon Lagoon, and the wave pool.

But it was 70 degrees, not nearly warm enough for a water park. Even a la… Read more...

Hidden Moments

Photography of city

If I hadn’t stopped scrolling, I wouldn’t have started petting Ziggy.

If I hadn’t pet Ziggy, he never would have put his head in my lap and looked at me with those eyes to take him for a walk.

If I hadn’t gone for a walk, I would not have run into the Italia… Read more...

The Troll Game

Attentive boy sitting on bed and playing card game at home

I agreed to play 30 consecutive games of Castle Mania with Hazel, or “The Troll Game” as we call it. (She had advocated for 50 games but I talked her down.)

Castle Mania is a simple but surprisingly suspenseful card game where you team up with each other to prevent a p… Read more...

Grandpa At His Best

Brown and gray mountain

I had been running around all morning figuring out how to FedEx my suit overnight so I’d have it in time.

When I opened the door to the room, there he was, laying on a single bed, on his side, knees bent, hands flat together, snugly tucked under his cheek. He lay there grinn… Read more...

In The Shadow of Epiphany

Landscape photography of green leaf trees

Epiphanies can be deceiving.

Once we figure out the way – Eureka! I’ve found it! – we tend to disregard all other paths. It feels good for a while but, in the fog of euphoria, we stop looking around. Holding tightly to our compass, we become crotchety.

Simply by t… Read more...

Levitating for Hazel

I do this trick where I make it look like I’m levitating. I found it in a magic book as a teenager. Took me years to perfect it.

My daughter loves it, tells her friends, begs me to do it.

But I don’t do it that much.

I save it.

And when she’s with one or two of her… Read more...