When I was a young man, I managed a Ramada Inn in Iowa. My boss, Rueben, lived in Denver and was an excellent mentor. One day, after I missed getting our cash to the bank two days in a row, I got a call from Rueben saying, “Don, the most important task you have is …
As I’m getting into my senior years, it dawns on me what I wish to put on my tombstone. “Here lies Don. He’s undone.” When it’s time for me to go to heaven, or at least to some spectacular spot, I know I’ll be in the midst of doing a whole bunch of things that …
Here I am, staring at my third week of recovery from my total hip replacement. I joined nearly 2.5 million people in the United States who are walking around with artificial hips. In the next 12 months, another 300,000 individuals will join our club. I’m not very good at …
I know one thing for sure: People change over time. I also have a hunch: In most cases, people get wiser and kinder when they reach their 70s, 80s and beyond. I have no statistical study to prove this hypothesis, but I have so many examples of friends and relatives who have …
“Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.” Man of La Mancha Around seventh grade, I read the first grown-up book of my life: Don Quixote. Blessed with a wild imagination and limited vocabulary, I devoured the adventure …
Dear reader, I apologize for the length of this particular post. I wrote it over five years ago, and it remains my favorite, maybe because it’s about Billy Bragg. I read it on the first day of every month to get me off to a loving start. Since dogs romp through life at a …
My mother was full of gumption. On the first day I remember her, Irene Duffy Kuhl was soaping up the back of the bathtub so I could slide down it. She was still showing off her gumption the hour she died as she complimented a nurse on her “beautiful blue uniform,” while …
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” George Bernard Shaw When I graduated from college (long before electronic files), I gathered favorite poems and stories I had written and organized them in a black, three-ring binder. This was a real …
I have an oddly shaped angel who looks after me. In my daydreams, Augie appears with wings far too small for his stout body. He wears red, full-body underwear and a big white cowboy hat. Augie can’t fly. It is aerodynamically impossible, but he does his best by taking long …
I don’t know about you, but my mind is slow in catching up with who I am today. So often I define myself as the person I once was in my earlier decades. It amazes me that some people doubt whether self-change is possible. I can’t keep up with it. For example, I have this …