A Word About Ambition When I was a little boy, living in Granite City Illinois, for nine months out of every year, like all other kids my age, I had to go to school. And I got report cards on a regular basis to let my parents know how I was progressing. I suppose…
A Word About Practice I was exposed to an important truth about life at a very early age, I think: In order to master something, in order to get really good at almost anything, you have to practice. The only way I ever learned to walk, to stand up and move from one place to…
A Word About Socks I caught myself the other day talking to myself. Ever do that? I have a routine almost every morning that I follow. When my feet first hit the floor of the morning of a new day, like most folks I suppose, there’s the bathroom ritual, then the walk into the…
A Word About Walking My wife and I are trying to get into a new habit. She’s been doing some physical therapy, and one of the things that has been suggested is she would do well to take a short walk as often as she can. She asked me if I would like…
A Word About Citizenship My dad’s not around, now. He’s spending the rest of eternity in heaven with Jesus. He died a few years ago, but invariably around the week of the 4th of July, I think about him, and what a true patriot he was. He grew up in the hills of the…
A Word About Fiction Early on in my writing career, my wife started a lovely collection for me. Each time I published a new book, she would buy me one of those framed old-fashioned-looking portraits of some famous author to hang on the wall of my office. I’ve been writing for several years now,…
A Word About Noise We live in an excessively noisy world. One dictionary says a noise is “a sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disturbance.” But I think that dictionary is wrong. I somehow don’t think a noise is the same thing as a sound. Most of the time,…
A Word About Flashbang Like most Americans, I would guess, I’ve been watching the news lately. The disruptive crowds of obviously angry people. Stopping traffic. Waving flags of various countries. Holding up signs with slogans people hope other people will read and be affected by. And when night comes, the crowds become even more…
A Word About Rescue I don’t know how many times in my life I’ve needed to be rescued? Once, when I was about 11 or 12, I was swimmin’ in a creek, and got my arm stuck in a root wad below the surface of the water. I’d have drowned, for sure, if my…
A Word About Shame The other day, I came home and one of our little dogs — Finley — had found a piece of cardboard somewhere, and tore it into tiny pieces all over the living room floor. What a mess! He looked somewhat pleased with himself, until I started scolding him….