The Friend Date

(re-run) He said he had a girlfriend but that she didn’t like to dance. Here he was, out dancing again. He loved to talk up a good game with the ladies, but would he ever act on it? He’d been with the same woman for over twenty years. He had insisted that I take his… Continue reading The Friend Date

Pushing Back

(re-run) Another Friday night, another summer concert, this time a Beach Boys cover band close to home. I loaded up my little red wagon and drove to Livorna Park in Alamo. The band wouldn’t start until 6:30, but I left home at 5:00 so that I could park close by and get a spot in… Continue reading Pushing Back

Michael Jackson’s Impact

(re-run) I was a teenager when Michael Jackson became a household name. He was a stand-out in his brothers’ band, the Jackson Five. He was ten years old when he sang ABC, simple as 1 – 2- 3, Girl, I love you!  I watched MJ grow up. I bought his first solo album, Off the… Continue reading Michael Jackson’s Impact

The Longest Day of my Life

(re-run) Today is the anniversary of the longest day of my life. Fourteen years ago, the movers showed up at 7:00 a.m. I had expected them at 8:00. They had a medium-sized truck. There was no way everything would fit. I had the Suburban and the Subaru, but they were already packed to the gills.… Continue reading The Longest Day of my Life

Pandemic Friday

(re-run) My friends are going out. They are eating at restaurants with no masks on, and they are sitting shoulder to shoulder at the table – not all from one household! I am chicken to do that.  I watch too much news and read too many newspapers. Yes, everything we do in life is a… Continue reading Pandemic Friday

Chinese Fire Drills and Other Politically Incorrect Things from my Past

(re-run) Back in high school in a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa, we did whatever we could to stir up some fun and sometimes some trouble. It was a simple existence: go to school, do homework, think about and look for boys. With no cell phones or social media to organize anything, kids spent a… Continue reading Chinese Fire Drills and Other Politically Incorrect Things from my Past

Best Birthday Ever

(re-run from deep into the pandemic) I was dreading the big one with no way to celebrate it during a pandemic. What would I do all day?  How could I make the day different from all the other ones during the lockdown? The good news is that I didn’t have to do anything at all.… Continue reading Best Birthday Ever

Suck It Up, Buttercup

It’s that chapter in life where many of my friends in their sixties and seventies are having hip, knee, and shoulder replacements.  Some are younger than me, most older, but all of them so far have seen the benefits of getting a bionic body part, aka titanium. One girlfriend mentioned that she is allergic to… Continue reading Suck It Up, Buttercup

A Great Dane Story

(re-run) When I was almost thirteen, I hung out at my neighbor Bonnie’s house, just one block away from mine, but it was different world.  Both her parents worked full time, so we teens could hang there with no parental supervision. We were supervised, though, by the family’s Great Danes. I remember three dogs, but… Continue reading A Great Dane Story

Machu Picchu Before It Was a Thing

(re-run) It was 1977. I was finishing up ten weeks of student teaching in an American oil school in Caracas, Venezuela. My roommate, Christy, wanted to travel for two weeks before we went home to the states. She wanted to visit Machu Picchu in Peru. I’d never heard of it. “It’s the lost city of… Continue reading Machu Picchu Before It Was a Thing