Recovery. Sobriety. Living Wise.
For the longest time my grandson Sam liked to watch YouTube videos on garbage collection. That’s right, videos of various kinds of garbage trucks collecting various kinds of garbage. It’s actually quite surprising how many different kinds of vehicles have been invented to pick up garbage. Anyway, I spent a fair amount of grandpa time contemplating garbage collection and have a couple of my own … Continue reading Be Your Own Garbage Collector
Some time ago Marsha and I watched Henry Fonda in the movie “Young Mr. Lincoln.” Afterward, I wondered whether we would ever see anyone again with the character of Old Abe. Then I wondered, would I even recognize such a person if he or she crossed my path? Would I have the eyes to see a young Lincoln? What struck me about Lincoln’s story was … Continue reading Finding My Humanity
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” ― James Baldwin I, like many of you, have had my world stopped, once again, on the issue of racism. After the horrific murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis I called Jai, my surrogate nephew, to check in on him. Jai, who is both a St. Paul police … Continue reading Changing Our Hearts … And Laws
I recently watched the movie, A Christmas Carol (for like the 50th time) and, once again, found my own life visited by the angels of Christmas past, present and future. Oh, how they never fail to get into my head. The truth is it’s easy for me to go on cruise control and become a little numb to the suffering around me. As Marley reminded Scrooge, … Continue reading Dickens Revisited
Occasionally, we experience transformational moments in our lives when everything changes. Sometimes these moments are big, sometimes they are small, but either way they forever get locked in our memory. I had such a moment twenty years ago when Marsha and I were on a cross-country road trip. The new century had just arrived and we both were emerging from a time that felt like a … Continue reading Recovery of a Marriage