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MAY 1986, THE LAST WEDDING

It was a cloudy, wet, day, in May 1986 for the last wedding.
Like so many raised on the Oregon coast, a cloudy, wet, day, is good luck no matter where you are.
Everything was done, everything set in Sandy, from rented morning coats to a rented preacher.
The preacher was a second choice.
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SHARING SPECIAL DAYS, EVERY LAST ONE

Special days have special meaning which don’t hit the same for everyone.
For some it’s repeating, “Why bother,” for the fortieth time.
Others like to say, “I thought we’ve moved past all that.”
But you still find those looking for something special in every day, and keep looking until they find it. Hell or high water.
The last line is the bell ringer.
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OLD PORTLAND, YOUNG PARENTS

Make that old Portland, youngish parents.
Or not so old Portland, and not so young parents.
We weren’t teenagers, but if you ever want to feel like one push a stroller around downtown.
With two kids it’s like a double punishment, like sent to your room AND missing dinner.
What else?
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LET THEM, LET YOU, OR LET ME?

The Let Them Theory book has a lot of lets in the letters.
My favorites are the parts that address my problems, which come with a writing habit from what I can tell.
Will I discover why I’m not a better writer?
Learn what I should have done by now, or find a lingering message to get over myself already?
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NORTH BEND HEROES START HERE

 Calling North Bend a small town is a disservice to real small towns everywhere.
Driving south on 101 and crossing the North Bend Bridge takes you under this sign.
If you’re not paying close attention and keep going the same direction, the entire area of the largest metro complex on the Oregon coast feels like it’s all North Bend, especially if you miss the little coos bay sign.
How can the biggest city on the coast be a small town?
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toughen up

BoomerPdx And End Of Life Debate

Oregon wins the trifecta for end-of-life discussion. 1. Oregon Senate Bill 451 establishes the nation’s first state registry of people’s wishes for end-of-life care. 2. U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s H.R. 1898 allows funds for doctors discussing end-of-life choices with their patients. 3. The state has allowed physician-assisted suicide/death with dignity as a final option. In […]

The Best Medicine Not In The Cabinet

When the New York Times posts on Facebook you know it’s an important subject. Newspapers in the digital age can’t afford to waste print. Is it war in the Middle East? Famine in Africa? Economic doom in America? Is sweating good for you? It’s all of the above, but the last one is tricky.

SNAP, CRACKLE, POP: WAKING UP OLD AND MOBILE

Fight waking up old by not moving? Oh those magic moment between sleep and awake. You could be any age at any place and be a vital force. So you don’t move to enjoy the moment as long as it lasts. Then you swing out of bed. Your back cracks. Take a step and your […]

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boomer years

WIFE BOSS FROM 1950 TO 2016

Did Fifties women even listen? Everyone’s got advice on what they don’t know about. They connect dots, paint pictures, and still can’t make you can’t see it. Anytime you reach into recent history, you’re showing stuff with easy proofs, references, sources. Real easy, like millions of pictures, documents, oral histories. Especially with women’s history, a […]

DON’T MEAN NOTHING? OR EVERYTHING?

The Torture Report. All war anniversaries, from WWI, to Pearl Harbor, to closing the operational command in Afghanistan, feel the same. It’s all Vietnam. That war played out on the nightly news through junior high and high school for my classmates. It was the war older brothers were drafted for, the war that robbed another […]

BABY BOOMER PARENTS DO THE RIGHT THING

Wrong versus Right for baby boomer parents. The old days, the ‘good old days’, had a few rules. One of the first rules baby boomers learned at home was My Way or the Highway. This rule usually came up when young boomer felt cheated and wanted to straighten a few things out. And it usually […]

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buckle up

Air Oregon My Oregon Paradise West Of Cascades

      For a moment let’s skip the romanticized view of the state. The brown patches across these images are clear cut lumber sections, replanted with more trees. Why are they brown? It’s not because of brown trees. Air Oregon shows too much.   Oregon, My Oregon via Oregon Blue Book, music by Henry […]

PORTLAND ARCHES PORTLAND ALLEYS

Nothing says Christmas like Portland arches Portland alleys. Christmas in Old Town Portland reminds visitors of a past era. It’s not a jail, just ironwork, and Old Town Portland arches, Portland alleys is full of cast iron architecture. That’s the stuff that falls on your head during an earthquake. Iron arches covered in brick keeps […]

10 THINGS THE SEDONA VORTEX WON’T DO

But You Would. 1. Help confused drivers find their way through one roundabout after another. The place has more of them than a YES album, more than an English county. The problem starts when drivers think yield means stop. Learn how to navigate this simple alternative to traffic lights.

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