Suprise Me

I’ll never forget that look in her eyes as she lay on the vet’s cold metal examining table. It was hard to look back. I felt like she was asking me, “Can I trust you? Am I going to be okay?” And I knew I was betraying that trust. She was going to die. I… Read More

The late ’60s were exciting, turbulent times, especially for a young man growing up in a Catholic seminary.  When I entered the Juniorate of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in Pascoag, RI in 1966, there were 24 of us guys (most of whom were gay, I now realize), from all parts of New York/New… Read More

Usually I write the story first and then look for a song for the title. This time I picked the song first. It is the third week in January, the week between Martin Luther King’s birthday and the ending of the Obama Administration. I feel like it is the last week before our country descends into… Read More

I walk out in a daze, music ringing in my ears, the girls in their party dresses still twirling across my eyes. Read More

One of my fondest memories of raising my children was cuddling up at bedtime with a book and reading together.  Read More

Before I can start talking about PE, I need to explain a couple of things. When I was in elementary school (fifth grade, I think), I came down with pneumonia. I believe I missed an entire month of school. The teacher had all the kids in my class send me get well cards, which I… Read More

The driving age in NJ, where I grew up, was 17 for some reason, even though in almost every other state in the union it was 16. Read More

Post Office Philosopher  Recently two of my out-of-town friends had birthdays and as both are serious readers I thought they’d enjoy a good book I’d just read. So I bought two more copies,  wrapped each for mailing,  and headed to the post office where I found John my favorite postal guy behind the counter, “I’ll… Read More

difference between charm and charisma. Read More

(Note: this story was originally published in August, 2016 for a “Disaster” prompt.) The call came very early that August morning in 2007. We were both still in bed on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. I heard the voice of my Brazilian cleaning lady from my house in Newton. She was very upset, talking quickly,… Read More