I have a clear memory of a Fantastic Four comic book that ends with the F.F. flying away into the clouds with patriarch Reed Richards saying, “Where there is life, there is hope.” I have searched high and low but haven’t been able to find that story again. These are melancholy days as my belovedContinue reading “A medicine for melancholy”
Category Archives: gratitude
A cardinal on Whimsy Street
I have been reading a couple of books by Bob Goff, a whimsical fellow who holds office hours on Tom Sawyer Island at Disneyland, and I am aware that whimsy and I have become strangers of late. It’s not unrelated to my beloved, Red, moving into hospice care a month ago; it’s hard to beContinue reading “A cardinal on Whimsy Street”
A lifting
He watched the phrases dance across the page. He heard the melodies. He felt the rhythms. He smelled fresh lilacs and tasted mint. And all the world burst forth from on the page. Tensions, pent up, eased. His shoulders relaxed, having never sensed their tightness. The cascading waterfall in his chest slowed to a trickle.Continue reading “A lifting”
To honor the fallen
We set aside this day every year to honor and remember the people who have died in war. From time to time someone points out that the best way to honor the fallen is to work to ensure there is no war. But war goes on, and perhaps it always will as long as weContinue reading “To honor the fallen”
Cardinal at the window
I first heard the story of the cardinals years ago at the memorial gathering for a mentor and his wife, who had died just a few months apart. The family distributed seed packets with cards telling how a cardinal is a visitor from heaven, a departed loved one letting you know everything is all right.Continue reading “Cardinal at the window”
48 years of alleged adulthood
Two score and eight years ago, it was hot and sunny, especially for people wearing black gowns and caps, and U.S. Sen. Bill Proxmire, D-Wisconsin, got an honorary degree, irritating my dad the staunch Republican. I spent that night and a few nights later in an ancient hotel in Waupaca whose name escapes me —Continue reading “48 years of alleged adulthood”
The rest of the story
There is a less self-promotional reason why, for the last week, I shared the first five chapters of Jeep Thompson and the Lost Prince of Venus and then gave away the first third of the book. I’ve mentioned that Red, my partner of more than 25 years and wife for six, was fighting for herContinue reading “The rest of the story”