Regular Life

Redneck (shirt pulled down to show contrasting skin)
Thursday, my lovely wife took our splendiforous son out to see some of her mom friends and their children. Sunscreen would have worked wonders, but during his bath Ben didn’t complain once of pain, so he seems to be wearing the burn well.
Thoreau-ing our Cares Away
Last Saturday, I [...]

Most of the time, I just can’t get enough of my son. When he’s being incorrigible? Whole “nother” story. I think I have an unfair advantage over my wife regarding the latter.
Although I get fairly high doses of Ben on the weekend, Monday through Friday life administers Shannon a nine-hour extended-release shot directly in her [...]

I shared the evening’s events with a friend who only a year before had landed in the sights of an older girl. His predator also was a smoker, but he had managed to get past that and on to things I had seen only in… well, I had seen them. In spite of his titillating [...]

“Well, I played one of the wise men in a third-grade Christmas play,” I said.
“That’s cool. As long as you can handle being in front of people, you’ll do okay.”
We yelled inanities back and forth during the 10-minute drive to her house. I almost froze in the wind.
As we walked into her house, Dawn introduced [...]

I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does.
The Smiths
Speaking in euphemisms, one could call her a free spirit. Speaking bluntly and based on rumors, one could call her a slut.
Dawn was a junior and I was a freshman when she asked me to co-star in a one-act play with [...]

Duke Chapel Arch

On this trip, I got out, saw places, and met people. I did not, however, saw people. That’s just wrong. What if you made that famous line from The Sixth Sense past tense? “I saw dead people.” That could make the movie either a ghost story or a gorefest.
Click any pic below to [...]

Duke University’s Chapel pulpit has a, ummm… cathedral ceiling.
Things keep happening on this trip that keep me from posting my planned entries. Above is a hint of the post to come. I had to share the following while it’s still fresh and relevant. It has a bathroom theme, but it is not graphic, and frankly, [...]

You ever have everything going just right, and then you do something stupid that screws it all up?
This morning had a storybook beginning, turned Brothers Grimm in the middle, and then showed hope again at the end.

“Do I have green sh*t on my ass?” asked a lady in bright white pants.
I was right behind her in the connecting tube from the gate to the plane. Is that what they are called?
I looked at her posterior. For the first time. Only because she obviously was in need.

On my first visit to Orlando, Florida, then home of pre-Epcot Walt Disney World, my brother and I quickly sniffed out the hotel’s game room. A few coin-operated video games and a pool table stood awaiting our travel-addled brains. Although I do not recall everything we saw, at that time it could have been nothing [...]