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BIG CITY DICKENS, AND FADING LOVE LIGHTS, A Short Story Of Intimacy

I got engaged and followed my future across the country. We met while I was an English major nursing a writer’s dream after an Army tour. She graduated and moved home with our wedding plans, so I dropped out and followed. Then she dropped me. Instead of hanging around New Jersey for a second chance, […]

FAMILY VALUES: HOME HISTORY IN MEMORIES

The term Family Values gets tossed around often, so often the definition changes. After the events of January 6, I questioned family values in general, American family values in particular. Since we all have different values, different family values seems likely. There were no lock step in my family values growing up and I didn’t […]

HOMEWARD BOUND, I WISH I WERE

Homeward bound? I’m home, not sitting in a railway station with a ticket for my destination, but I would be if I screwed up and my family found out. I’ve got a wife and two kids, two boys now men, who have never cut me any slack. All three are accomplished ass-kickers and mine would […]

YOU MIGHT BE PANDEMIC STUPID IF . . .

Pandemic stupid is more than the local mask denying moron in a red hat screaming into a camera about their rights and freedom. You might be pandemic stupid for not following the most basic, the most simple, the easiest way in making a difference. But it’s only been nearly a year of hearing what those […]

FAMILY LIFE: HOW IT STARTED, HOW IT’S GOING

Family life is a blur. That’s what I tell anyone who asks. It goes by fast from the dad lane. Pictures don’t lie. What’s it take to keep family life together over the long haul? Communication tools, that’s what, but not the kind you’d expect, not the kind my wife would include either. But, it’s […]

HOW SECOND BORN KIDS MAKE THEIR MARK

Being a second born myself, I know how to make a mark. Call it a mark, a scar, it’s something to be remembered by. I’m sure it’s different with girls, and the mix of brothers and sisters, but my mix was all boys for the first fourteen years. The first, then fourteen months later the […]

FAMILY MAN? WHO WERE YOU BEFORE THAT

Every man is a family man until it’s time to do what family men do. “But, Dave, what do family men do?” I’ll answer before you ask, because you were going to.

TORCH PASSING? WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME

When it comes to torch passing, timing is everything. And it’s usually the wrong time. My dad died the day after my last visit.

FAMILY PLAN? FARM THE KIDS OUT FOR PEACE AND QUIET

For most, a family plan is making sure the kids are alright. Planned pregnancies and Tiger Mom tactics? What’s that? My parents had four kids and we always lived across from a sand dune and a forest. Smart move. When they said go out and play, we knew where to go. Forest play was more […]

FACING ADVERSITY FOR THE FIRST TIME, PANDEMIC EDITION

The biggest take aways from facing adversity the first time are the tools and tactics we learn for the next time. And there’s always a next time. Maybe not as big as now, but the tools still apply. So, what are the tools needed for facing adversity? You’ve come to the right place, reader.