Today marks the 30th anniversary of my decision to stop drinking. I call it my rebirthday. This was accomplished not by my willpower, it was accomplished only through a bizarre series of so-called coincidences that can only be attributed to Grace. If life is a school, some lessons are hard-learned. For me this was one […]
My jaw just about hit the floor when my GI doctor told me that several of his ex-smoker patients restarted the habit and went into remission for UC. And it’s not necessarily the nicotine; he advised that there is/are some other toxin(s) in tobacco smoke that UC doesn’t like. I was incredulous because I had […]
A Pretty Day It starts out innocently enough. The weather today is prime for flying, you’ve got nothing in particular to do on your schedule. It’s been a while since you took to the skies, so you decide you’ll go for a leisurely ride and enjoy the freedom of flight and its sights for a […]
I went to say goodbye to my stepdad yesterday. He is still alive, at least biologically; he’s moving into the deeper and final throes of Alzheimer’s disease. In years he is somewhere between 81 and 85, we’re not sure…he hasn’t been sure for years, even before the Alzheimer’s invaded. A kind, sweet and gentle man […]
(original author unknown – posting for its poetic impact) I’m not sure how long it’s been. My only reference points are distant stars and planets that basically all look the same and don’t appear to be moving much from here. The radio and GPS cut out some time ago, and the manual propulsion system engines […]
Sometimes angels come into our lives and leave an indelible impression on the trajectory of our subsequent years. We may not recognize them as such at the time, especially if they’re “angels with dirty faces,” so to speak…they hide their wings well. In the summer 1976, a music producer came from Coconut Grove, Florida to […]
With all the hubbub lately with talk about packing the Supreme Court, it’s time we take a perspective look at the structure of our constitutional republic, and the roots of this experiment in democracy. Especially in this technological age of instant news and the attendant devolution of our so-called news outlets into editorial bias. People […]
Today marks the 30th anniversary of my decision to stop drinking. I call it my rebirthday. This was accomplished not by my willpower, it was accomplished only through Grace. If life is a school, some lessons are hard-learned. For me this was one of them and it took a lot of damage and misery to […]
Over the past week I posted four items on my Facebook timeline, varied in topics. I was going over them a day or two ago and noticed something. Each post was different, yet it showed something in the readership that showed a trend. I sort of backed into it by accident, but it ended up […]
This is a true story. I’m not sure if it’s a story of survival through sheer grit or one because of and despite complete idiocy. Or more likely, because of divine intervention. In December of ‘87 or ‘88 my dad had a 26 foot Pearson sailboat, the Tiburon. It was based out of Middle River, […]