family
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Unraveling the Knots
People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. Roger Hornsby A couple weeks ago, I wrote of learning how to ice skate after decades of unrequited love. It was a feel good story about overcoming hesitations Continue reading
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We’ll Have to Muddle Through Somehow
There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. Erma Bombeck Thursday will be my first Christmas without Mom. I have been facing this realization since her death earlier in the year, but the awareness has become more intense with each passing day. I can’t stop thinking about Continue reading
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Step and Glide
It’s coming on ChristmasThey’re cutting down treesThey’re putting up reindeerAnd singing songs of joy and peaceOh, I wish I had a riverI could skate away on Joni Mitchell I grew up in the Arizona desert where seeing snow required a long car ride. I have very strong memories of driving from my home in the Continue reading
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First Frost
All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. J. R. R. Tolkien We had our first frost of the season on Saturday. Having lived in Minnesota since the 1980s, I know that no Continue reading
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Living the Dream
A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality. Yoko Ono Excluding some slight poetic license, the following is a true story. My head must have been a thousand miles away when I was startled out of my thoughts with a loud, “We’re livin’ the dream, Andrew. Livin’ Continue reading
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Act As If
The key to success is action, and the essential in action is perseverance. Sun Yat-sen Despite having what some would consider a long and successful career, I never felt that I was particularly special at anything. I was a decent programmer, but I knew a lot of people who were much better than me. I Continue reading
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Tuesday’s Child is Full of Grace
I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us. Anne Lamott Anyone who has been following this blog knows that I am deeply concerned about the state of the world and the country I call home. Continue reading
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All the World is Birthday Cake
You know you’re getting old when the candles cost more than the cake. Bob Hope Last week I had another one of those birthday things. It wasn’t one that ends in zero, so it didn’t have the gravitas of a big transition. Still, I am of the belief that even these lesser-milestone birthdays are special Continue reading
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The North Shore Simple Life
‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,And when we find ourselves in the place just right,‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight Joseph Brackett I am a Cancer and us Cancers find great comfort in the familiar. I Continue reading
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Through Another’s Eyes
There are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago. J. Robert Oppenheimer After hearing my youngest daughter-in-law rave about it, I bought the game Do You Really Know Your Family. The game is comprised of Continue reading
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Reframing Aging
My position has always been that the way people age and the signs that we show of aging is nature’s way of tattooing. It’s natural scarification, and the life you lead gives you the symbols and the emblems of your life, the road map you followed. Frances McDormand As I wrote about in my article Continue reading
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Mom
It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful? Mahatma Gandhi My mother, Bernadine Mary Hazinski Prokop, passed away this past Friday at 4:40 a.m. Arizona Time. She was 98 years old. There is much that I would like to say about Mom, but it’s too early in Continue reading
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Somebody Somewhere
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. Lao Tzu I have always been a stumbler. I create lofty plans regarding where I want to be and what I need to do to get there only to see my journey become a series of accidents, pitfalls, switchbacks, and wrong Continue reading
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Lasso the Moon
Wise to resolve, and patient to perform. Homer Until the pandemic put an end to it (as it did to too many traditions in my life), Linda and I loved going to the Riverview Theater for their annual holiday showing of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Even though I have seen it countless times Continue reading
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Shine a Light
I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. Charles Dickens I am not a Christian and despite that fact that I regularly attend Sunday services at a Unitarian church, I am not anything in particular. I have a strong sense of spirituality and attempt to practice a life Continue reading
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Visualizing Success
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. Abraham Lincoln I was recently in a conversation with a friend who spoke of his struggles at work. He questioned his effectiveness and whether or not he was making a positive difference with his clients and coworkers. After listening Continue reading
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Lifelong Learning (It’s a Family Affair)
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Mahatma Gandhi Like all people married as long as Linda and I have been (43 years and counting), our relationship needs the occasional tune-up to keep things moving in the right direction. This can take on many forms, but Continue reading
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A To-Do List for a Better Life
We don’t need a list of rights and wrongs, tables of dos and don’ts: we need books, time, and silence. “Thou shalt not” is soon forgotten, but “Once upon a time” lasts forever. Phillip Pullman A much younger me believed I was in control of my fate. I lived life with the notion that whatever I was and wherever Continue reading
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The Time for Prayer Has Passed
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people. Martin Luther King Jr. Once more my news feed is filled with stories about another school shooting. Four people were killed, nine were injured, and the perpetrator appears to be 14-year-old boy with Continue reading
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Richard Alexander Prokop
Death ends a life, not a relationship. Mitch Albom August 28, 2024 marks the eight-year anniversary of my brother Richard’s unexpected and not so unexpected death. I say “not so unexpected” since Richard had been neglecting his health for a long time. He was the type who either ignored a problem or minimized its significance. Continue reading
Can You Hear Me Now 