My 21st Father’s Day

I called my dad this past Sunday morning to wish him a happy Father’s Day. In the conversation, after he wished me the same I told him that my oldest bought the ingredients to make me an Old Fashioned as an early Father’s Day gift. He laughed and said “You know you’re getting old when […]

Big City Dreams and a Shoe Box Full Of Cups

My oldest has settled into the big city nicely. It was just a week ago that she moved into her apartment on the Upper East Side of New York for her 15-week college internship. As far as I know, she’ll be working for a small publishing house going over manuscripts. Maybe editing them? I wasn’t […]

Wallet Size

There was a time before everyone had a professional-grade DSLR camera in their closet(or on their phone) when “good” pics were taken at picture studios. School photos, family photos, wedding photos, graduation photos, and anniversary photos were taken by someone you hired. You either went to their studio and posed in awkward stances, or they […]

Got The Time

Even as a little tyke in Husky jeans I was obsessed with time. How quickly it seems to move, length between one place to the other, the possibility of traveling back and forward thru it, and lamenting its inevitable damage on my person as it moves over me like a metaphorical freight train. I’m not […]

In My Room

More than wealth, success, and a general sense of being important in some capacity, growing up the only thing I ever truly desired was a place to call my own. More important than going out with friends or going to the mall was having a space in this world that I felt safe. A corner […]

Neil, Jason, and Me

Neil Peart set me on a course of musical discovery at the age of 15 that only maybe John Lennon, Jeff Tweedy or Adrian Belew can equal. Of course my frontal lobe frizzle fried when I first heard Peart take off on one of his 8-minute drum solos. His live dexterity on All The World’s […]

Father and Son Rituals(End of an Era)

No spoilers here. I promise. Sitting in a theater packed to the maximum with grown men all around me sniffling, weeping, and sucking snot back up into their sinuses. Grown men in their 30s and 40s bawling like 5-year olds that just found out mom and dad are getting divorced, or that they can’t keep […]

Oh, Baby

You know, I hear people talk about when their kids were babies and how much they miss those times. How quickly they grow from when they were rocked and swaddled and laid down for bed in a crib to being lousy teens that don’t pick up after themselves or don’t understand the value of a […]

Chuck

I shaved my beard recently. Not all the way, just enough to where it looks like I forgot to shave for a couple days. Don Johnson five o’ clock shadow? No, more like Dom Deluise 5 o’clock shadow. Or maybe Peter Deluise five o’clock shadow if I’m lucky. Anyways, I needed a change and felt […]

A Fistful Of Dolarhyde

Growing up, there were two very important libraries in my life. The first was the Nappanee Public Library. This was not my local library, but it was where my grandma Hubner worked. Every week my dad would go over to visit my grandma and do whatever work needed done around the house. He’d pay her […]