The pandemic reignited walking around the neighborhood block. My neighborhood is a landscape that has been a part of my life since I was five years old. In the ’70s, I biked, raced, and wandered inside most of the homes in my neighborhood. I at least made it inside the front door for trick or treating. Every porch light was on for that night. In the ’80’s I walked around the block when I returned…
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My brother Jim’s mother died when he was a toddler. His life was topsy-turvy. Jim describes his teen years as stealing cigarettes from our parent’s room, sneaking off with his friends to drink alcohol, and getting into trouble with school. Jim joined the Air Force. At the risk that further misconduct involving illegal drugs would result in a bad conduct discharge, my father flew down to Texas, where Jim was stationed, and appealed to Jim’s…
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My oldest just moved the day after Christmas. With my own Navy moves under my belt, I knew that sometimes moving across an ocean is a lot easier than moving houses 20 minutes down the street. When you move across an ocean, you know you need help. When you move locally, it’s easy to think you can get by with some help from family. When I showed up at Maggie’s front door, I had to…
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A true tale written long ago and rediscovered. Every morning I wake up very early and after our family of 11 spends a little time together we head off in our different directions. I head off to the kitchen to prepare my same breakfast, eaten in the same chair in the same location at our kitchen table for years. My breakfast of champions is a precise 3-minute soft-boiled egg, one piece of buttered wheat toast…
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The pool was woven into our everyday summer days. Open from Memorial Day to Labor Day six days each week. The pool was closed on Mondays. My mother magically got all her work for the day done by 11 am when the Navy pool opened. Off we’d go until the whistle blew at 7 pm. It is still fascinating to me how she could do her daily routine with 9 kids at home and have…
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