“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”- John Wayne I’ve always loved this quote by John Wayne. Whenever I read it, I think of the archetypal cowboy, brandishing his revolver, jumping on a horse, and galloping into a storm of bullets to […]
Here’s an idea that ought to twist your brain into a pretzel: in science, the present does not exist. When I first learned this, my first thought was of Charles Dickens. If he’d understood the only identifiable aspects of time are Past and Future, would he have cut […]
“Sometimes, there is more truth in a lie than there is in the truth. If you want to make someone understand reality, then you have to lie a little. You have to distort things, to exaggerate in a way that reveals the way you see things.” – […]
“Happiness is being married to your best friend.” I dislike this overdone, sunshiny quote. I dislike it because it short-changes happiness by assuming it’s available only to those who are both married and friendly, and I hate it even more for putting an unfair expectation on […]
Today is my fortieth birthday. Apparently, this is something of a benchmark. I’m fortunate to have a couple undisturbed hours to craft a fortieth birthday gift for myself. This is a small slice of life that’s rattled in the back of my head for awhile now. Like the narrator, […]
Hour two of my four hour drive home from central Washington, and I find myself thinking the same thought millions before me have and millions after will repeat to themselves – “There’s a whole lot of nothin’ out here.” I’m glad to […]
Mornings I stand at the window, watching you, waiting for you to go. I stand until my feet grow tired, and I wonder sometimes what takes you so long to pull away. How things have changed. Not long ago, I ran to catch you before you walked out […]
There is power in words, never so prevalent as when words are put into writing. There is a permanence to writing which amplifies the power, but I believe there is even more to it. It’s something about the thought which goes into the writing. When […]
You turn ten today. I vividly recall last year when you turned nine, I suffered several days with anxiety over the fact that you were merely a year from hitting double digits. I have a visceral aversion to calendars and dates – systems that serve […]
My first “published” story was written during the second grade. The story was titled The Brick Monster, and my teacher thought it worthy of submission to the state young authors competition. Weeks later, I found myself in a stark room – a classroom for grown […]
