My parents are visiting me in Pennsylvania. That’s a good thing, given how long the pandemic took them from me. What came as a surprise, though, now that I’ve bought a house, it seems they decided to bring with them everything I owned from the time I was born. It turns out I was a […]
Category: Memoir
Moments in time from early childhood to adulthood that deeply impacted my life, one way or another, and made me, me.
Quarantine, Day 25
My dad used to drive this black pick-up truck with a red velvet interior. It’s maybe one of the first vehicles I can remember from our childhood. The interior smelled like his tobacco that he used for his pipe. He would tape a calendar and other notes to the dash, and rumbling noises from the […]
Learning to Embrace Impermanence
I’ve taken lately to watching videos of my sweet puggle, Daisy Mae, as a way of coping with her death. We live in this world now where we record or take a snapshot of nearly every moment of our loved ones. In Daisy’s passing, I’m glad for it. It brings back memories I’d nearly forgotten. […]
On Grieving My Sweet Puggle, Daisy Mae
I haven’t yet found the energy or wherewithal to throw out her toys. Or doggy bed. There’s a bag of food still in the fridge and I’ve been avoiding opening the door so I don’t have to look at it. This morning as I stood at the top of the stairs, the sun was beaming […]
Ode to Daisy Mae
I always loved how, whenever a dog would meet Daisy Mae – our fifty-two pound puggle – they were always a little beside themselves. Even the little, ugly muts that bark at everything and won’t shut up somehow managed to stop in their tracks and look at her like, “What am I supposed to do […]
To Cherish What’s Old
I like old things. Sometimes I like to think maybe it’s because I inherited all my grandfather’s old war stuff, but the truth is, I’ve always loved what’s old: an antique store with everything under the sun in it or the smell of old paper bound to a book of poetry or walking around in […]
The Original Belle & Sebastian – the Moroccan and his dog: a Guest Blog by Driss Laayadi
One of the goals of this blog is to capture moments and memories. The older I get, the more I find myself easily lost in a kind of momentary daze – especially if I’m visiting a place like camp or my grandfather’s farm that was a big part of my early childhood or late teens. Sometimes, even out […]
Reflections of a Lifelong Education
It was the spring of 2002, my senior year of high school, and I’d been invited to Wabash College for the Lilly Honor Scholarship weekend, along with thirty other guys, many of whom were a lot more accomplished than I. Imagine a room full of thirty Max Fischers fighting at a chance to go to […]
Poindexter, Dave Matthews, and following your heart
When I started Wabash, I remember the day my parents moved me into the Kappa Sigma house was a really hot August morning, and when we walked into the fraternity house, I remember being greeted by “Bill” who was like the Hulk and shirtless and immediately intimidated the hell out of me. I was a […]
What’s in a Name?
Abner Doubleday, my six year-old puggle, is a pup of many names. Around the time I got him, in 2007, I named him “Abner” because I was on a big baseball kick. I’d recently watched Ken Burns‘ baseball documentary, and I was fascinated by the story of General Doubleday who, as legend has it, founded […]
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