I had just been fired from the agency that brought me and my wife to Charlotte 18 months before. I was told that I was “too fiery.” And maybe I was. I was a new copywriter, after all, and had a way of beating the hell out of ideas in order to test whether they could hold water. In some ad agencies this would be fine, but in a conservative one like mine, it was a little too intense. This…
Last winter, our 15-year-old daughter, a landlocked surfer, discovered a town an hour north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, that was described as a “bohemian surf village with good, steady waves.” We hadn’t yet set our summer trip, and because we’re a family on a tight budget, we tasked her with finding a place that we could afford. Then, maybe, if the airfare wasn’t crazy, we’d consider it. Since the kids were old enough to conveniently travel, every other summer we’ve…
During my morning shower, I sometimes put on Apple Radio’s Classic Rock station instead of what I normally listen to. Granted, I can barely hear the music when I’m in there, but it’s good company and it keeps me from thinking about bad men walking in and shooting me during this vulnerable state. Plus, I know all the songs. So this morning More Than a Feeling was playing as I got into the shower. When it finished it switched to…
It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. All my life I called bullshit on this line. If you’ve ever had a broken heart, you probably did too. But recently, after the final whistle blew on my daughter’s soccer career when her high school team lost at home during the NC Championship Tournament, this line floated up. From the time she first stepped foot on a soccer field as a little girl until this…
I am not anti-religion. Anything that can get people closer to the light and farther from darkness is ok by me. But in general, I think religion does as much harm as good. Segregating people into buckets of us and them. I’m no preacher, but have had some experience with God in a minuscule (personal) way. And what I understand God to be is love. Only. Nothing else. Everything beyond “be kind and love each other” is man’s attempt at…
The following post was written by my daughter, Agatha Mitchem, whose team lost 1-0 in round 3 of the 2019 NC state soccer tournament. I was sitting in a parking lot. It was 9:30 pm on a Wednesday night. I had just played my last game of soccer. Ever. Of course I will be part of pickup games and clubs that meet once or twice a week in college in order to “stay fit,” but I knew it would never…
