I opened the sewing basket, letting my eyes and hands run over the tools she had used—the scissors, the darning egg, the pins and pincushion, and spools of thread.  I gazed at the metal spool-shaped bobbins remembering how, as a small child, I flushed them down the toilet creating quite a ruckus. I fingered the […]

In an attempt to unwind, I recently watched a movie I thought would be light entertainment before I went to sleep. I was wrong. The overarching theme of the movie was: If you were given the opportunity to know that you would die in ten minutes, what would you have left to say to someone? […]

I met Susan in English class in 1968. I sat at the desk behind her, often staring at her thick, auburn hair wishing my thin, mousy brown hair was as radiant as hers.  I marveled at how confident she was, offering her opinion without prompting.  I, however, only spoke when called upon to do so.  […]

I fumbled my way through my parent’s attic. Stacked all around me were several sealed boxes. I sat down on the floor and rummaged through them, curious about their contents and the memories they’d stir. Neatly tucked in the corner of one box was a small envelope with my name on it.  I opened it […]

  Before the advent of America’s interstate highway system with its ribbons of pristine concrete made coast-to-coast transportation more efficient, the popular mode of long-distance transportation for Americans was riding the train. I grew up riding the train, enamored with the spirit of adventure associated with traveling by train to places unknown.    Train rides […]

There was something almost magical about the bond between Pop and me. It began when I was roughly three years old.  Most afternoons, I stared out the picture window in our living room and waited until I heard his rickety pickup truck round the corner. “Daddy’s home,” I squealed, bolting out the door and greeting […]