My First (Electric) Guitar

It was December of 1987 and I was looking down the barrel of my 14th birthday. By that point I’d been playing guitar for a year and change(first lesson was August of 1986.) Of course I wanted to start out with an electric guitar. It wasn’t like I’d been inspired by acoustic troubadours and the […]

My Kroger Is A Dump, And Why I Still Shop There

My Kroger store is a dump. Every time I go in there there’s some new Hell I have to endure. I almost always have to use the bathroom when I get there because I drink three to four liters of water a day at work, so by the time I reach Kroger I’ve got to […]

Mike

Written New Year’s Day, 2023 Yesterday I went to a funeral home and paid my respects to Mike. Mike was the father of one of my best and oldest friends, Tyson. It’s humbling and heavy at any funeral, but to be there for my best friend’s dad was a whole other level. Mike was 78 […]

My Airwaves

For the first decade of my existence I pretty much lived in a dead zone. My dad was too cheap to get cable, so we relied on a 40′ antenna tower for our television needs. I didn’t really miss cable till I got a little older and things like USA Up All Night, movies with […]

Exile On Meh Street

The week before Thanksgiving is usually a time of the year I love. Lots of dark overcast days, the temps drop, and the thought of having a four-day weekend coming up helped me push through those final, few work days. And in year’s past I would typically take the whole week off. Take a whole […]

Friday Zen

When it comes to cleaning the house I’m the guy. It’s something I’ve always done in the marriage. My wife isn’t much of a picker upper. Her superpowers lie elsewhere, like with dealing with school volunteering, budgeting, and dealing with the kids Dr. appointments. Me? I buy the groceries, cook the meals, pay the bills, […]

Things Found In A Midwestern Safe

A couple weekends ago my dad came over at his usual time of 9am for our Saturday coffee and conversation. As he came into the door our miniature schnauzer greeted him with the usual shrieks, barks, and bellows… excited for what grandpa had in the Ziploc baggie for him. As I was walking to the […]

Plants And Chairs And Trees And People Forming As One

I was off work the last week. No trips to the beach or cabin in the woods, not that kind of time off. I spent the first four days in the hot Midwest sun taking apart the play set that my dad, father-in-law, and I put together in May of 2005 for our kids. It […]

Sorry Mrs. Jackson(I Am For Real)

I feel like growing up everyone had that one friend that lived in the neighborhood whom you kept in a very particular relationship bubble. You had your school friends and sports friends and maybe some weird YMCA club friends that might have intermingled and bled over into each other. You have your best friends that […]

Paper Or Plastic

I had a dream the other day that I was back in the old Owens grocery story on Market St in my hometown. This was the store my family shopped at for all of our groceries growing up. From the time when I could fit underneath the cart where you typically put bags of softener […]