I went to my first professional baseball game this week. I’m 49. A few more years and I might have lived my entire life without seeing a single inning. Oh well. It’s not that I’ve been too poor to finance a hot dog ($12), a pretzel ($8), and a soda ($6) at the stadium until… Continue reading Take Me Out of the Ball Game
My mom called to yell at me on my way to work today. At first I thought she’d found out about that time in college my friends and I got caught sneaking into a penthouse in downtown Vegas, but then realized she was actually yelling because my dad was outside shoveling snow off their driveway… Continue reading Help Wanted
I surprised my family with coupons for flu shots last weekend. They were not delighted. I guess I don’t really blame them, especially with all the controversies surrounding vaccinations these days. Are the shots even necessary? Or effective? Or safe? Everything is debatable now, it seems. Back when I was young, things were much simpler:… Continue reading They’ll Thank Me Later
Do you know what happens when your daughter’s new boyfriend accidentally fills your car’s six-cylinder, fuel-injected gasoline engine with diesel? Because I do. The car continues to run just fine. But only briefly. After a few hundred yards, it will start sputtering. The sputtering then turns to clanking which quickly degenerates to violent shaking. It… Continue reading Last First Date
There’s a small scar above my left eye, a keepsake from the time my sister and I tried to dig our way to China. I don’t remember the exact thought process that led to this bold venture, but since I was 5 and she was 13, I’m sure our reasoning was perfectly sound. I’m also… Continue reading Whole
My oldest daughter turned 18 today. She’ll be graduating high school in June, then leaving for college in August. All this growing-up and moving-away stuff is expected, I guess, but it’s sure happening faster than I’d like. Those who’ve already sent a child off into The Great Big World know I’m muddling my way through… Continue reading Owie
I lost my sister to cancer 12 years ago today. Actually, that’s not right. I didn’t “lose” her. That makes it sound like I simply misplaced something irrelevant. That if I’d been more careful or could somehow retrace my steps, I could find and bring her back to her children. To her grandchildren. To her… Continue reading The Things I Kept
Let me explain. My 19-year-old son sent a family text last Sunday night confirming our weekly video call. He’d been working on a project all day at A.S.U. but was getting ready to walk back to his apartment so he could join us online at 9pm. Less than 30-minutes later, I was on the phone… Continue reading This Holiday Season, I’m Grateful for a Candy Bar
My 11-year-old son is going through the infamous F.L.A.S.H. (Family Life And Sexual Heath) unit right now in school. Everything was going pretty well until they wrapped-up F.L. and then moved on to the A.S.H. segment. I’d prepped him for this day a few weeks ago, but he was still pretty traumatized by the sudden… Continue reading F.L.A.S.H. Back
[I wrote this in 1997, so it's too late to send any congratulatory cigars. I'm still accepting cash, though.] My wife and I recently discovered we hadn’t gained much ground in our pursuit of vast riches and fame. In the meantime, though, we'd created a wonderful marriage together and our growing love for one another… Continue reading Not What I Expected
