My family visited the American territory of St. Croix this summer. It was lovely. On recent summer trips we’ve gone to The Bahamas and Belize. We loved Belize so much that we went back two years in a row. My enchantment of Belize is well understood by my friends. In fact, in having lunch with a friend after we returned from our trip to St. Croix he asked, “Does it feel like you cheated on Belize?” Nailed it. That’s exactly…
I lived in Houston long enough to know that Texans are some of the most compassionate people anywhere. Sure, they have backward politics (to me), but they wear their passion for “being Texan” on their sleeves. We moved to Houston when I started 10th grade, after a year in Louisiana (moving there right after I started 9th grade in Florida). I learned right away that Texans will take you in as one of their own if you’re willing to let…
You are going to die. It could be by a train this afternoon, or it could be in 70 years when you’re happy from having lived a full life, but you are going to expire and turn to dust. For the sake of this post, let’s say you’ll live to be 95. The reward for a long life is the accumulation of age. And with age comes certain … let’s call them variables. Like most people, when I was young…
We ended our amazing trip to St. Croix, boarded our flight to Miami, and things got interesting.
On her 15th birthday, my daughter received a beta fish from a kid who lived in the neighborhood. A kid who had been in our house many times. A kid who would know we weren’t “fish people.” I thought it an odd gift. And then thought, what an odd fish. Beta are strikingly beautiful to be sure, and this one was no exception. He was blue with feathery red fins. We named him Beta. And Beta looked lonely in that…
The most gratuitous use of power I’ve ever witnessed occurred about four years ago when my then 12-year-old daughter was “dating” this Korean kid in middle school. This boy was gaga over her, and he was nice, and so she liked hanging out with him. It was a beautiful Saturday and we invited him to join us on a bike ride along the greenway. About an hour into it we were taking a break when my daughter said, “Hey Dad, John (not real name)…
