Love
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Teenage Crash and Burn
When I was a teenager, I was an ultra late bloomer, and my mom would say it was a blessing because it means you never have to wonder if guys are only interested in you because you’ve got boobs. Anna Kendrick I recently came upon the following: A survey conducted by the Survey Center on… Continue reading
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Time Beyond, Time Without
Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides. Lao Tzu It has been said that there are five stages of grief: Denial, bargaining, depression, anger, and acceptance. Today is the second anniversary of my brother Bob’s death and since waking this morning I’ve felt every one of them to one… Continue reading
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Sought Through Prayer and Meditation: Help, Thanks, Wow
I close my eyes, then I drift away, into the magic night I softly say. A silent prayer, like dreamers do, then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you. Roy Orbison My history with prayer has not been a good one. I was raised Catholic and rather than prayer being a means to… 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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What Have You Done?
Each time a man or woman stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the… 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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Blessings Abound
It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to… Continue reading
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Kitchen Ministry
I just hope Americans come to understand that food isn’t something to be manipulated by our teeth and shoved down our gullet, that it’s our spiritual and physical nourishment and important to our well-being as a nation. Alice Waters When I was just a lad of 10 or 11, my mother required an operation followed… Continue reading
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It’s Life’s Illusions I Recall
It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise. Henry David Thoreau Every so often I play the same song over and over again. For the past two days, I have done that 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
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Do You Love Me
Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry One of the most poignant and tender moments in the musical Fiddler on the Roof is when Tevye sings to his wife, Golde, “Do you love me?” She answers him with, “For twenty-five years I’ve washed your… Continue reading
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This I Believe
It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. Muhammad Ali Each meeting of my men’s retirement group has a different topic of discussion. In the past, we’ve spoken about everything from unexpected events that changed our lives to how we approach downsizing.… Continue reading
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A Searching and Fearless Moral Inventory For The Masses
This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet. Rumi The original 12-Step program was developed in the 1930s as a way for alcoholics to stay sober. The steps begin by recognizing an… Continue reading
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Baggage
A person is like a city. You shouldn’t let a few less desirable parts put you off the whole. There may be bits you don’t like, a few dodgy side streets and suburbs, but the good stuff makes it worthwhile. Matt Haig I have a friend who signed up with an online dating service. She… Continue reading
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Robert Steven Jeffery Prokop
In my life I have found two things of priceless worth – learning and loving. Nothing else – not fame, not power, not achievement for its own sake – can possibly have the same lasting value. For when your life is over, if you can say ‘I have learned’ and ‘I have loved,’ you will… Continue reading
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Memorial Day Remembrance
“Older men declare war, but it is youth that must fight and die.” Herbert Hoover Monday is Memorial Day and I can’t help but think about my deceased father and his service to his country. Like most men his age, my father spent his late teens and early twenties in some branch of the armed… Continue reading
Can You Hear Me Now 