I had a bit of inspiration recently that compelled me to think about Annie’s Grandma, she went by “Nani” (Nah-Nee). She was born Christmas Day 1925, today she would have been 90 years old. She was a little tiny feisty lady. She was Italian and always dressed the part. She had oversized coke bottle eyeglasses and had a thick Rhode Island accent. “Come hee-ah Honey, gimme a hug! Way-uz my dahling Lydia?” I met her back when Annie and I…
It all happened so fast. Lyd’s sitting on her chair, eating her Peach Cobbler when my open palm flew toward her face. Stunned silence was all around the table as Lyd sat there, eyes tightly shut. Then she wiped the whipped cream off of her face and began laughing. Over the next ten minutes everybody at the table ended up with whipped cream on their faces. Laughter pretty much replaced Peach Cobbler for this evening’s dessert. This is one of…
This morning I’m braiding Lyd’s hair, the news was on, an update on the San Bernardino Shooting came up. “Daddy? Did someone shoot a bunch of people?” “Yes. Sweetie, someone did a terrible thing, the most terrible thing you can do actually.” “Why?” “I honestly do not know.” (taking a cue from a Mr. Rogers quote I once read) “But watch, see that lady being helped? There are always people helping. I want you to remember that and look for…
Earlier this week, Annie asked me if I could send her the Christmas Card mailing list. Sure, no problem. I dug through a couple of desktop folders and finally found that little document. “Hmm!” I thought, “This hasn’t been updated since 2012. There’s got to be something more current than this.” I did some more searching before concluding that I must have been sending Annie the info in some different form for the last couple of years, I’ll probably remember…
2008 was a unique year for us. Annie was settling into a very promising job, my gigs felt like they had attained cruising altitude. We had been married for three years, we were about as happy as we could be. Something wasn’t quite right though. Since day one, since our engagement days, we would have musings about someday having kids. There really wasn’t a time where we weren’t interested in becoming parents. Before I go on, let’s jump back a…
Whenever Annie and I take the girls out to a restaurant, I have always make it a point to have my leather belt within easy reach. You won’t believe how handy it can be when one of them starts acting up or getting feisty. In fact, Regina and I were out having lunch with my Mom once and I ended up having to pull out the belt on my youngest daughter. The restaurant had no high chairs, just booster seats….
There is a restaurant in Osseo WI, I think it’s now more legend, more of a State treasure than a mere restaurant, it has transcended that category. This restaurant is called the Norske Nook. First impressions: it looks like your typical small town breakfast restaurant. It has the typical menu items you would see at just about any old fashioned Pancake House. The food is very very good! That is, until you have dessert, then the food becomes very good….
Kindergarten, Day 1. The drop-off was successful. I was not nearly as emotional about it as I thought I’d be. Annie was pretty upset though. Me? The feelings are running a little deeper under the skin on this one, they don’t seem to be coming up to the surface very quickly. I’m quietly pondering it all. I’m thinking about how long the days are, and yet I’m a bit blown away by how fast the years are piling up. I…
Two and a half years ago, a doctor told us you were pretty much a miscarriage—85% chance. The news was given in an awfully dismissive manner, he might as well have finished it with, “that’s the way the cookie crumbles” and a shrug. I don’t think that doctor realized how close he came to having an angry man in a kilt fly across his desk and damage his face. Your Mother’s fingernails, when properly buried into my forearm can have…
Find the Teddy Illustrated by Stephen Cartwright, Words by Felicity Brooks, Designed by Meg Dobbie What do you think Reggie? “Well, from a technical perspective, it’s airtight. The sentences are perfect in structure, albeit simple. Not that there’s anything wrong with simplicity mind you. Case in point, Hemingway vs Faulkner. It’s really character development that is offending me, I mean, how does the protagonist (Teddy) develop throughout the course of the book? He doesn’t! He simply continues getting lost, page…