In 2001 I became a parent. I chose to become a parent. But like everyone else who is a parent for the first time, I wasn’t sure whether I could raise good humans. I still don’t. I have to be honest, I didn’t even really like kids before we had our first one. But then we did, and I fell in love with the job. And yes, I’ve messed up as a parent. A lot. Almost every day, in fact…
This purpose of this post is to publicly announce that I’m finished with shaking hands as a cultural device. I’ve given it up for the fist bump. No, I’m not doing it because of President Obama. Well, I mean yes, his popular use of the technique helps make it a little less awkward, but I’m not doing it because of him. I’m doing it because as a species we’re fallible, and shaking hands only expedites this fallibility. Our hands are…
I’ve been playing in the same fantasy baseball league with the same guys in NY/NJ for 20 years. Back in the day, we had to use the Wednesday edition of USA Today to see the previous week’s stats and then transcribe (with a pencil) all of these stats into neat little rows representing Hits, Outs, HRs, RBI, Wins, Ks, etc. etc. so that we could see who was ahead for the week. Times have changed, thank God. The first 8…
Most days I wish I was normal like everyone else. So that I could get in line with the rest of you, and be grateful for another day I get to don the layers necessary to go out into the world and interact. Then I could be happy with the idea of breathing, and simply making it through to another night of rest. But I can’t. Something inside won’t let me. So I take drugs to help me get there. And…
It would be romantic to say that my muses are my daughters and wife. But that’s just not true. My muses swirl around me all day as spirits only I can see, hear, and feel. And mostly, my muses don’t like me. They think I’m a coward for not letting them inspire me more often. Because I find excuses to not let them use me as a conduit to God. I tell myself that my muses are hideous beasts. Sirens…
What if we just treated others nicely? If we went into every scenario with an open heart, an open mind, and no agenda to dick anyone over. If we all stopped judging. And hitting. Imagine if we employed these simple concepts as part of our daily lives? No seriously, imagine. *** Jim Mitchem
