Wave To Mama
A mother shuffles away from the school bus stop after her daughter has boarded. She moves like it is exceptionally early in the morning, though the sun is up and … Continue reading
Saturday-Ja-Vu: Things to do in Indiana
Even if you can’t get to a keg lifting contest like this one, you might enjoy a trip to the movies this weekend. I’m Saturday-Ja-Vu-ing a story from guest blogger … Continue reading
Summer, Childhood, Shades
“I know what’s wrong with me,” he told the doctor. “Acute nostalgia. I want to be young again. Is there a cure for that?” –Antal Szerb. Journey By Moonlight … Continue reading
If The Shoe Rips
There’s a Norman Rockwell-styled advertisement featuring a cobbler diligently crafting some durable soles. He is sketched in a moment of peering up from his trade to twinkle at the artist. … Continue reading
Pretty Much Every Love Story
She wanted things to be somehow as they had been, or as they had never quite been but might have been, or might be if only things were different which … Continue reading
My Favorite Things
Perhaps he thought acting natural would mean he could escape my blog. However, he was a.) an old man, b.) wearing navy suspenders, c.) using a cane, and d.) eating … Continue reading
A Donut Day In Swimsuit Season
The woman at the register greeted the next pair in line warmly, “I’ll take the next…Hi.” The mother stepped forward, her son jumped and danced up alongside her. “Well, don’t … Continue reading
The Ideal
The young mother held her daughter’s hand as the tiny girl leapt off the curb, hustled ahead, then slowed down–her mother’s arm was a satisfactory tether. The open-air shopping center … Continue reading
Lawn Pilot
Still only one-third of the way through his job–navigating a riding lawnmower over two acres in front of the Lutheran church–he delighted in shredding each swath. He chose a bright … Continue reading
Night Game
After dinner the small boy stood at the far side of the lawn with his back to the street. He focused on a point in front of him, waiting for … Continue reading
They Were Too Shiny Anyway
Outside Target, mothers previewed for their toddlers and pre-schoolers the agenda for the shopping trip. The children who were old enough replied, asked questions, such as: “But where are we … Continue reading
Slow and Steady
At the rest area in Sutherland, Nebraska, he exits the driver’s side of his old Ford truck, takes off his hat, and brushes back his final grey strands. He crosses … Continue reading
The Smartphone Slaughter of Small Talk
This was a job for the large round table in the sportsbar. The Grandmother seated herself between the mother-type woman and her pretty granddaughter, whose smooth face was turned down … Continue reading
For the (Mean) Professor who told me to be Realistic
On a brilliant November day, my students talked me into teaching outside. So we were at an outdoor amphitheater on the Danube when I broke into the story of the … Continue reading
Mensch!
On the long day before a set of flights home to Colorado, I helped with a Halloween party in a private Austrian school. My favorite child, Phillip, with a perpetual … Continue reading
En Route
It’s a travel back the the States day, a “get on the bus to the airport at 8:30 am Istanbul time and hope to catch the shuttle home at 9:30 … Continue reading
The Bold and the Apprehensive
The couple boarded the plane extremely late and toting five carry-on bags between them. The flight crew looked the other way. He opened nearly every overhead compartment in their section … Continue reading
Get In Someone’s Way
Pen at the ready, the old man attempted to fill out his check, clutching the checkbook in one hand and scrawling with the other, so as not to hold up … Continue reading
Fearless Zumba Septuagenarians
Zumba is like a cruel trick on the elderly ladies in the sparsely populated fitness room: an eight-dollar drop-in fee for overly complicated dance steps and music featuring figures such … Continue reading
The Nice Thing About Strangers 