Smell the Flowers

“What the hell is that?” I said, pointing to the computer monitor. “Oh,” the cop said. “That’s Karl up with his drone. We’re doing a sting on a rub and tug place.” Looking at the aerial view of a sandwich shop I sometimes frequent I said, “They operate out of...

Fear Is the Wish

When I ran up to the corner, a car was waiting to make a right and I slowed down, wary of the young woman driving because she was texting on her cell phone. Lost in her electronic reverie she didn’t move so, I jogged past, giving her a wide berth. Good thing I...

Cousin It Saves the Day

When I was around twenty-five, I noticed my hearing wasn’t what it used to be and visited and audiologist.  “Were you in the service?” he asked me after conducting a hearing test.  “No,” I said. “Why?”  “You have the kind of hearing loss people get when...

Something New

When I got home from work, I was really tired. My first instinct was to crash on my comfy bed to take a nap but grudgingly changed into my running gear instead. After putting on sunscreen and my new running shades, I did some stretches and then started chugging down...

A Particular Set of Skills

Old people like to complain and my mother is no exception so, I’ve learned to take what she tells me with a grain of salt. But when the details of mom’s aggravation concerning food quality at her nursing home started tickling my waiter sixth sense, I did the most...

A Picture in Time

This photo was taken during my freshman year of seminary in 1986/87. Can you pick out the young aspiring cleric I used to be?  I was so skinny then – but my wife says my hairstyle never changed. I thought of writing a whole post about this snapshot, but realized...

Heartbreak Radio

Whenever my daughter gets into the car, she, like most of the women I’ve known in my life, assumes complete control of the radio or, in this case, Apple Music. “Dad,” my daughter said a soon has she buckled her seat belt. “Play Taylor Swift.” Notice the absence of the...

A Clean Well-Lighted Place

When I hit the 5K mark, I consulted my heart monitor and saw my heartbeat was only 135 – an improvement from my last outing. Then again, I took a five minute break to work out a kink in my knee. Perhaps I should do that more often. Feeling energized, I felt I...

A Guy Thing

A nurse with a very nice figure walked past me and being a male of the species, I cast an appreciative glance.  “You saw that too?” my friend said from his gurney.  “Hard not to notice.”  “My wife said half of it’s not real.”  “Who...

Petitioning the Lord with Prayer

Today was the National Day of Prayer and the township I work for sponsored an ecumenical service to mark the occasion. I know people get all hot and bothered about separation of church and state issues but, last I checked, all the Constitution stated was “Congress...