Tag: family

• If Only For A Moment…

  May 11

  On Sunday, Mother’s Day, during the second hour of a four-hour gig, something extraordinary happened. As I stood beneath a tree playing my trumpet, a hummingbird suddenly appeared. It circled… more ›

• Alone at the Happiest Place on Earth

  Apr 25

  Most people would say the Disneyland Resort isn’t a place you go alone.That doing so feels equal parts pathetic and depressing. And maybe… on paper, it is. But I did… more ›

• Life Is A Notebook

  Apr 14

  I came across this idea the other day, and it stayed with me longer than I expected— the kind of thought that doesn’t just pass through, but settles in. Maybe… more ›

• Scraped Knees and Torn Jeans

  Apr 3

  There was a time when play was king—not the quiet, sit-down kind, but the loud, dusty, borderline-dangerous kind that required sunscreen you never used and rules you barely followed.  It… more ›

• Kinder Chronicles, Room 3, 1974

  Mar 23

  Teacher’s log, Kinder Day 31 I used to think I was in charge. That illusion lasted exactly four minutes on the first day of school—right up until Little Tommy licked… more ›

• Dichoso El Árbol

  Mar 10

  Music. For most, it is simply entertainment. For some, it fills the silence. For others, it is just noise, or a distraction from what weighs on the mind. But for… more ›

• More Than a Story

  Mar 9

  When I was a kid growing up, like any other kid, I had dreams about what I wanted to be when I grew up. A writer wasn’t one of them.… more ›

• Instructions Not Included

  Feb 26

  Parenting might be the only job on the planet where they hand you a freshly hatched human being and say, “Good luck,” and then just… leave. No orientation. No handbook.… more ›

• Like Therapy – No Appointment Required

  Feb 26

  Life is a journey—and what a messy, beautiful one it is. There are peaks that make you feel invincible, and valleys that make you question if you packed the right… more ›

• Just Like Hers

  Feb 16

  Funny how when you have a hankering for something, it doesn’t matter what else you have.If it’s not that one thing, you’re not satisfied.You’re left with just a little emptiness.… more ›

• 87 Octane, a Pull Cord, and Chlorophyll

  Feb 15

  Mowing the lawn. When I do it routinely — in season — it’s therapeutic. And yes, at my age, the body pays for it with soreness for a couple of… more ›

• A Day In The Life

  Feb 3

  A Casual, Day-Long Stroll in My Shoes The day starts like any other day.Which is to say: against my will. Weekends are exempt from this story. Those are mythical creatures.… more ›

• Where Baseball Loved Us Back: Memories Filtered Through a Child’s Eyes

  Nov 16

  There’s a certain magic to baseball that no other sport has ever quite managed to touch. Football thunders, basketball dazzles, soccer never stops moving—but baseball? Baseball breathes. It invites you… more ›

• Tinkering

  Sep 14

  Once upon a time, every kid was a tinkerer. We learned by unscrewing things, prying them open, poking around inside. Radios, bikes, door hinges, cassette decks — if it rattled,… more ›

• The People in Our Lives

  Sep 2

  I got to thinking about friendships recently—not the surface kind, but the ones that quietly (and sometimes loudly) shape who we are. I’m not even sure what sparked it. Maybe… more ›