Memorial Day Memory

It is Memorial Day weekend, again. As usual, my thoughts turn to those I have loved with all my heart, who served our country with bravery and devotion, and are no longer with us. It is more challenging, and a bit more painful every year, because we Baby Boomers are, sadly, winding down. And so […]

Remember To Look Up At The Stars

On January 8, 1942, the 300th anniversary of the death of astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei, Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford, England. This man, who was diagnosed with debilitating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) when he was but twenty-one years old, has been considered the greatest scientist of his day. Cosmologist, physicist, astronomer, mathematician, and […]

The Songs Of My People

Last night I dreamed of Rosannah, my great great grandmother. The things I know of her have been gleaned from years of searching for my family. And I’ve learned, the best of her are not the dates and places that define a brief sojourn that we call life; but rather, the small, powerful, daily activities […]

In Her Honor

Every Hallowe’en I offer homage to a remarkable woman. In that tradition, I am reposting, in her honor, my heartfelt tribute. There had been rumors, rustlings of something very bad afoot. Those with whom she had spent a lifetime, and shared in the most intimate of household experiences, from childbirth to preparing a departed loved […]

“A Date Which Will Live In Infamy”

My dad never spoke of his service to our country. In her gravest tone of voice, my mother taught us at an early age to never, ever ask him about the Navy, or World War II, or Pearl Harbor. And so we did not. The only clue I had growing up was when my dad […]

I Salute You

The Oath of Enlistment “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of […]

A Shovel And Bucket Guide To Survival

I like to read about events in history that occurred on any given day. Today in 1957, the Gaither Report was issued. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had called a special committee to review our nation’s defense readiness. It concluded we had fallen far behind the Soviet Union in missile capabilities, and the report vigorously recommended […]

I Wish Never To Be Needed Again

I have been closely following news reports about the Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting tragedy. There is no way I can begin to understand or accept the magnitude of such a thing. In reading accounts of the events that unfolded, I found one act of particular interest. A first year Social Studies teacher, Megan Silberberger, heard […]