Josephus
It’s been a more than a week since I met Josephus.
Come to think of it, “met” might be the wrong word since we weren’t introduced and our one conversation was short. Continue reading “Josephus”
Advice to Alabama fans
If you need proof some people will never be satisfied, look no further than sports talk radio. Continue reading “Advice to Alabama fans”
Things I’d do if I didn’t have to work
I need you to understand something.
I love my job.
Since I’m sure you understand now, I’ll get on with this list of things I’d do if I didn’t have to work. Continue reading “Things I’d do if I didn’t have to work”
Heartbreak and history
It was just another Tuesday, and I was just another 15-year-old sophomore in high school.
My mind had little regard for anything except girls, sports, what I’d eat for lunch and how I’d get through math class.
I didn’t have a cell phone or a driver’s license.
I was nowhere near New York City or the World Trade Center.
Terrorism was just a word.
I’m 32 now. Things are different.
I know you might skim this story on your cell phone. I know you might be too young to remember what happened.
Maybe you weren’t even born.
Maybe all you know about Sept. 11, 2001, came from what you’ve seen on social media or heard in history class.
My friend wrote a column about Sept. 11 last week, in which she made a wonderful point about what I remember most from the the day’s aftermath. I’ve thought about you since I read it. I thought about you again this morning, when I saw an Instagram post from a history teacher who had students interview someone who has a clear memory of what happened 17 years ago today to help them see a different picture of one of America’s most disasterous days.
I’ll never forget what unfolded in those hours.
If you can’t remember, and you have a minute to spare, I’d like to try to take you to a time when the history you’ve heard was just heartbreak. Continue reading “Heartbreak and history”
I saw sea turtles on the seashore
I pushed my lawn chair into the sand and sat.
I was part of a small crowd, which had gathered on the beach to witness the aftermath of a seldom-seen spectacle of nature.
The crowd included several small girls, who giggled as they flipped through pamphlets and stared with wide-eyed wonder at a little indention on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico.
The spot was the only visible sign of sea turtle nest No. 20, which had hatched a few days earlier.
While the crowd watched, trained volunteers dug into the sand below the spot until they reached the chamber of the nest.
They lifted unhatched eggs, broken eggshells and one dead hatchling from the chamber to be recorded before they buried them again.
All of this amazed the group of small girls, and I heard one of them say they’d seen history.
I smiled and thought about how amazed they’d be if they were ever around when one of those nests hatched.
I saw a sea turtle nest hatch once.
It was something I never knew I needed to see, and something I’ll never forget. Continue reading “I saw sea turtles on the seashore”
Me and the bee
Long ago, I made one of my many bad choices.
I went outside to play, and saw a five-gallon bucket.
There was water in it and a bee on it.
I’d been told bees don’t usually bother you if you don’t bother them, which has since proven to be mostly true, but I was a young boy and it proved impossible not to test such a theory.
Dog gone
When I was a boy, I had a lot of pets.
They just didn’t seem to want to stick around.
The day the Lord has made
This is a place where some days seem to feature all four seasons, and others offer only wet heat.
Days like today, when the breeze is just gentle enough to rustle the oak leaves, are meant for front porches and rocking chairs. Continue reading “The day the Lord has made”
A hollow town
A few years ago, at Christmastime, Daddy and I hit the road.
We decided we’d make the trip to a place called Jackson Lake Island, for no other reasons than we had time, we wanted to go see the place and we’d pass a Red Robin on the way. Continue reading “A hollow town”
What if my words were gone?
A Randy Travis interview came on the radio while I drove home from work the other day.
It was recorded before his 2013 stroke, which almost cost him his life and has made communication more difficult than it once was for the singer of more than a dozen No. 1 songs.
This is less about Travis, though, than it is about the questions which creeped into my mind when I thought about how quickly things changed for him.