Christmas always brings memories. One such memory involves my friend, partner, and colleague Ron Loving on a dark, drizzling, cold night in Memphis, Tennessee, the week before Christmas. We had secured the CEO into the Peabody Hotel. Ron had gone to the front desk to get some change. He and I then headed toward the […]

Today is the last day. My birthday month. Leaves are still falling. Finally, we have rain. The colors may pop or not. Some will be bright and cheery, and others are not. September has always been a puzzling and, at times, challenging month for me. It has been a month of exponential joy and great […]

The weekend had been one of the field exercises where ROTC guys played Army out on Blood River, one of the many embayments on Kentucky Lake. It had been cold, damp, and miserable. However, as we packed up, everyone seemed reasonably satisfied with the performance. James Alphonso Caruso, or “Little Al” as we all called […]

“To love someone long-term is to attend a thousand funerals of the people they used to be. The people they’re too exhausted to be any longer. The people they don’t recognize inside themselves anymore. The people they grew out of, the people they never ended up growing into. We so badly want the people we […]

My Mother loved Easter. I believe in her mind Easter was really the beginning of spring and being a gardener and “green thumb” this meant she was now free to start her growing season. For those of you that knew my Mother, you can attest to the fact that she could take a seemingly dead […]

Sister Mary, as I recall, was from Baltimore, and when I left the school where I did my student teaching, she gave me a “gift” she made. It was a seashell, lacquered to protect it from the elements. The shell was milky white, flecks of orange and yellow, small enough to carry in any pocket. […]

Zuzu Bailey: “Look, Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.” George Bailey: “That’s right, that’s right. Attaboy, Clarence.” It’s a Wonderful Life (1945) Every man and woman needs to know they have made a difference in life and that their lives have impacted their community, family, and friends. George […]

The 70-year-old Francis Romero was in a coma in the hospital. His dog was allowed to stay with him, did not break away day and night. After a month Francis woke up from the coma with the words: “Where is the white angel who constantly whispered that everything would be all right?” Courtesy of Appalachian […]

A simple act … Our home place in Princeton was on the edge of town on White Street to be exact just down from Southside Baptist Church. By the time I became cognizant of the homestead there were four lots remaining of what was once a farm. We had early in my life an outhouse, […]