Her name was Carmen, a Resistol addict.. — Around the over one hundred-year-old, still not completed cathedral of a certain industrial city in a Central American country, were the kids. Mostly boys as girls don’t have the same survival rates as the boys do. I would see them every day because I operated a hotel just a block…

Some may simply fade away. — Yesterday as I was driving home from doing errands in town, I turned the last left on the last block to get to my house. On my right was an aging woman. Immediately upon seeing her, I could tell something was amiss. Though it was still a quarter block away…

No gold at the end of the rainbow. — We pulled up to Joe’s Garden Center supply store. ‘Steve, are you coming in? You really should come in so you can help me pick out what you’d like to plant this year, I mean, other than just tomatoes and Zucchini.’ My wife and I were struggling after almost ten…

Careful not to use too much of a human approach… — Despite all to the contrary, today threatens to be a fine day. After all, it’s Friday, not going anywhere either. Sitting still, as if my next breath can choose to engage me, or not, and who cares? There’s a feeling of freshness, one I can behold, and one I can…

Moments in two people’s lives… — Sitting on Crystal River’s edge. Ice formed along the shoreline, three rainbow trout swam up stream in formation. This was fifty-two years ago, also a long time ago as now it is today, 2022. Then, memories of another river held me. Even today the sweet memories of that Guatemalan river…

Breathe in and then out and it all changes. Homage to a family member. — One sunny morning in Panama. The sun had begun its ascent, just barely six am and already the humidity was like a thick cloak. Beagles truly are a special breed. His passing was of the kind that his presence only grew in value rather than in the more usual fading…

My turn to be a mentor, for a day. — Something I was reading reminded me of a time I spent a winter as an assistant manager at a Howard Johnson restaurant. This was around 1972. The restaurant was part of a hugely popular family restaurant chain. The article I was reading last night talked about mentors, teachers and that…

A dishonesty conveniently ignored? — We walked towards the sun. Railroad tracks were lined with tall shrubbery and were ideal for concealing critters like rabbits and pheasants. Though this has been some years past now it comes back to me as if it was yesterday. Our mostly silent progress between the rails punctuated by groups…

He wondered why he just didn’t live there forever… — The beach was the laziest I’d seen it in a long time. Small, gentle waves lapping up onto the white sand. When it got like this, the water was like a swimming pool, deliciously calm. The relaxing effect of the waves couldn’t be overstated. In my bag was the pocketbook…