About 15 years ago, I bought a house with a yard and made friends with my neighbors, and it took just under a week to realize they all had dogs and bonded on Friday nights in our cul-de-sac having drinks and watching their dogs run and play together while I […]
When you shut the door to my office, you see 3 framed University of Alabama degrees on the wall that I didn’t earn. One from 1939 for Jamie Waid; one from 1941 for Prentice Thomas; one from 1967 for Janice Thomas. When the first 2 were being pursued, the Tide […]
Last weekend, I saw Yacht Rock Revue cover The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album at Variety Playhouse, at it was awesome. Before they did that album, they did Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” with “The Wizard of Oz” playing on a screen behind them, so we could all see […]
The next suggestion from the “642 Things to Write About” book is this: “the worst Thanksgiving dish I ever had.” This may appear to be a question avoidance strategy, but the worse meal I’ve had on Thanksgiving is…nothing–or next to nothing. In high school, I was a wrestler, and Thanksgiving […]
I was introduced to Pepto as a teen who’d consumed too much candy one Halloween. My mother produced it to silence my whining about frequent trips to the potty. When I asked what it was, she said, “It’s like concrete for your bottom.” I pictured my dad with a trowel […]
Our end goal was my sister-in-law’s wedding near Boston, but I wanted the trip to be something to look forward to, and it’s hard to look forward to an in-law’s wedding where the only people you know will be the ones with wedding obligations. So, I cashed in a couple […]
The above is a picture of my first car; it was nicknamed “the digger” because of its proclivity to drive through yards and dig ditches. I’m 3rd from the right and am surrounded by some of my friends (all but one are still friends today). This is the story of […]
A few months ago, I sent an email to a couple friends from high school about planning a trip together sometime this spring or summer–the year all of us turn 40. We bounced around a few ideas about things to do or places to go, and I thought we’d go […]
On July 16, the oldest child in our house turns 8. This shouldn’t seem like that big of a deal. It’s still single digits. Our state and federal governments confer no additional privileges upon 8-year-olds. She won’t change schools. It should just be another number signifying that she’s still a […]
Before I was born, my parents lived in Charleston, South Carolina. Dad flew C-141s there, and they had a boat and several sets of wooden water skis. Dad would slalom. Mom would drive the boat. Then, they’d switch places, and he’d pull her on a pair of skis. A few […]