Trains on the Brains I’m in the kitchen cleaning up after snack after I told him Thomas the Tank was over and he should play. But he had other thoughts, and around the corner, he pops, sliding up next to me. Thomas the Tank Engine DVD proudly displayed in his…

It was summer in 1983; I was 16 years old. I traveled to England on a six-week-long extended vacation with an English family living in the…

It was October 1990. I had been working 12-hour shifts, 7 days a week, for the last month. It was dark at 6:30 am. I was headed to work on yesterday’s fumes. I typically had a set of safety rules to follow; no stopping for gas at night was one…

Some back story about an injury to my right side big toe is required. I injured my big toe (someone did) when said someone was vacuuming and ran over the aforementioned big toe. Seems this person didn’t really want to be vacuuming and was aggressively vacuuming as they and I…

At dinner, I asked a question of my adult children. They are college age, or one is on the cusp anyway, plus due to covid, the one in college is living with us, so we are currently a multigenerational household. “What’s my parenting metaphor? What’s the thing you think of…

Several years ago, while my mother was in the hospital after suffering a heart attack, I remember some poignant moments. At the time, they were just things people did or said to break the silence or connect or pass the time. Still, those interactions now strike me as precious moments…