Regular Life

I walked into the room and saw her sitting there in a sofa chair upholstered yellow-gold, while a little 13” color TV sent out light and sound waves of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Her favorite moments in that show were Ray’s father saying, “Crap!”
Betty’s arms were so grotesquely black and blue that I had to [...]

No stones to speak of yet. That kind of thing doesn’t run in my family. I was the lucky one.
A buddy of mine e-mailed me Monday morning to say that he had to have a stint put in his ureter to help his 10 stones make the journey. I remembered that he missed some work [...]

I’m about to give birth. I think I’ll name him Rocky. Sandy? Or there’s the more obvious yet less mainstream Stone.
I’m talking kidney Stone here. Never had one before now. I have feared them for the past year, since one co-worker had a bad bout with them and another had a small attack. I certainly [...]

The summer of 2004, I did something I’ll never forget as long as I can remember anything. For many it’s impossible, because it only happens before they ever take a breath.
At age 30-something, I helped escort my mother down the aisle and give her hand in marriage — to my dad.

My senior year in college, my highly anticipated GRE results arrived. Their percentages and bar graphs suggested that I learn to say, “Do you want fries with that?” in several languages. On the literature section (my field), I was in a very select group I came to call The Bottom Four Percent.

(also see “The Mighty Finger (The End)” in the pages section)
It was a textbook, just like mine, with two distinct differences. It was almost twice as thick and had huge print. I didn’t know about fonts and typefaces at the time, but now I would place it at about 20-point size in the Times family.
A [...]

I liked those weekends my brother and I stayed with Dad in an extra room at his office. Just like a campsite or a motel, it was staying overnight away from home. How a boy that age could have been so oblivious still amazes me. I had no idea my parents had problems. The worst [...]

I wrote a story Saturday about a boy named Gary. It’s called “The Mighty Finger,” and instead of regular blog entries, it will appear in three parts in the Pages section. The first part is here.
I hung out around the house with Ben Saturday, while his mommy went out shopping with some visiting family. We [...]

This was about three minutes before Ben took his first fall from the swing. He just straightened his legs out too much (not because he was swinging himself — he doesn’t do that yet), and slid right off the seat and onto the ground. He landed on his bottom, then hit his head. The experience, [...]

The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That’s pride f*cking with you. F*ck pride. Pride only hurts, it never helps.Marsellus Wallace, Pulp Fiction
I’ve been told I’m an above-average husband, but sometimes even those of us who pride ourselves on our sensitivity and compassion can screw up royally.