“Dad?” he called from the dining room. “Yes…?” I answered from the study. “Is it ok if I stay at college for sixteen years?” I didn’t say a thing. “… There are so many good classes.” I laughed, remembering how I used to get all dreamy and itchy as I leafed thru the course catalog […]
Yearly Archives: 2010
Silence and Words
Thu, 30 Dec 2010, 06:03 PM (-06:00)
Two college students are in the dining room now. Back in town for at least a few more days. They’re sitting at the table playing Scrabble. One from the Pacific Northwest. One from the Midwest. Both back home from a long ways away. And it got very quiet in there all of the sudden. I […]
Fog of Morning
Thu, 30 Dec 2010, 12:24 PM (-06:00)
The sky was cloudy gray. A breeze was blowing out of the south. Fog clung to the ground. He was running around in 400 meter circles. Red jacket and blue shorts. His dog trotting faithfully beside. He was alone. Surrounded by silence. The bell at the elementary school rang as he began. The school was […]
On Christmas and the Day After
Sun, 26 Dec 2010, 08:09 PM (-06:00)
1. Crazy On You The stereo in the study was playing loudly. Heart: Crazy On You. Oh, the guitars—an excellent song to crank the stereo to. Ben was in the living room passing judgement on the parental choice of tunes. Some got a thumbs up, some not. When this one came on, he looked up […]
Give Them Time
Fri, 24 Dec 2010, 11:18 AM (-06:00)
1. Two More Laps. “Which lanes do you need?” I gasped to the club track coach as I passed him. He smiled and shook his head. “We’re not starting, yet.” I held out two fingers and panted, “Two more laps.” He nodded. His kids were just arriving and putting on their shoes and stretching on […]
Under the Zilker Tree
Sun, 19 Dec 2010, 09:28 PM (-06:00)
We stood there under the Zilker tree, the three of us, stuffing sweet/salty kettle corn into our mouths as fast as we could chew and swallow. There was no yule log this year, and it was cold out, but the kettle corn was hot, so we were happy. There were little kids running around, watched […]
Season’s Cheer
Wed, 15 Dec 2010, 09:53 AM (-06:00)
I got an email from a colleague last night. It came after a week on the road and a really dismal day of decompression when I got back. The dismal days have been really deep, lately. I had emailed him to ask about some work we were doing and whether I had overreached in a […]
Oak Silhouettes
Tue, 14 Dec 2010, 03:26 AM (-06:00)
We were driving west, she in her car ahead of mine. Racing along the highway. Going home. The sun had set, and all that was left was a fading light on the horizon. Night was almost upon us. It was dark in the east. Only a red slice of day lingered in the west. I turned […]
A Conversion (Or Learning to Like the Cold)
Mon, 13 Dec 2010, 01:35 PM (-06:00)
We sent him off with a great winter coat when he left for the north last year—a coat and warm gloves and a scarf and hat. Everything he needed to weather the cold. This morning, my weather widget took forever to report the conditions in Cleveland—a metaphor perhaps for the beating that the midwest is […]
Winter Weather
Sun, 5 Dec 2010, 08:42 PM (-06:00)
1. Visions of Hot Chocolate Dateline: Central Texas. Yesterday we sat outside eating sandwiches and trying to find a shady spot, squinting our eyes from the blazing sun. “It’s hot!” Trudy said. Indeed it was. And she didn’t have sunblock on, which was the cause of some conversation. Not bad for early December, by my […]