A friend was talking to me about his wife and said half-jokingly, “Well, you know she’s a hoarder. My house is so full of stuff, I need to move out just to get some room to walk around”. Ugh. I know all about hoarding. My mother is a hoarder. Many years ago, I cleaned out…
Fractured Fairy Tales
When I was a small child, I loved fairy tales. My Aunt Essie would read to me Jack And the Beanstalk, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs, The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Little Engine That Could. Then when I could, I buried myself into John Henry, Jonny Appleseed, Paul…
In Character
Good or bad, people tend to act the way they acted in the past. When I expect someone to act differently, I am usually disappointed In the past year, I’ve witnessed this occur with family members, friends, business leaders and politicians. Worst of all, I’ve witnessed it in me. In the last 3 years, I…
Dream Girl
I remember many of my dreams but I don’t write about them or discuss them with my friends much because I think that only I would find them interesting. Today, dear reader, I’m making an exception. In recents weeks, my dreams have fallen into two distinct categories: My wife is alive and we are together…
A Permanent Sadness
Ever since my wife was diagnosed with lung cancer back in 2018, I’ve carried a permanent sadness deep inside of me. In the beginning, when we were fighting the cancer, I buried the sadness with action. I researched medications, scoured lung cancer forums for glimmers of hope and studied PubMed articles for facts about treatments,…
School Shootings and Soft Targets
I have been thinking about school shootings and soft targets after the recent Buffalo supermarket shooting and the Uvalde School shooting. These brought back memories of the Stoneman Douglass School shooting, the Sandy Hook shooting and even the Columbine shooting. I hear politicians saying we need to have stricter gun control laws. They propose bans…
Can’t Get No Respect
My friend who is my age lives with his elderly mother, purportedly to take care of her. This friend has not worked for more than 25 years due to various issues which I won’t detail here. His financial, medical and housing needs are met by government subsidies and additional support from his family. He is…
Maid Man
I never thought I would enjoy cleaning the house. Back when I first lived with my wife and her two lazy slob kids, I hated Saturdays because they were the day for house cleaning. We’d do 10 loads of laundry. Vacuum. Pick up all the crap all over the house. Clean the kitchen. Scrub the…
Home
The last time I was on plane was 4 years ago. I haven’t slept in a hotel or traveled more than an hour away from my home since I ended my road trip in 2019. My wife and I moved many times for work, family, her medical conditions and better weather. Despite moving to different…
Sign Yourself Up
Too many websites now have pop-up ads, videos or “newsletter” signups that cover the entire page and can only be removed by clicking a tiny X or microscopic text that says something smarmy like “No, I don’t like to save money”. These same sites automatically add me to their email list if I am required…