—HERE’S TO THE ONES THAT WE GOT

 

 

…Doctor, doctor, give me the news.

 

…I’m counting every bird on the wire, because, why wouldn’t you if you could?

 

…Sometimes it takes an errant flood to reveal your real priorities.

 

…One man’s junk is another man’s gold. Yep.

 

…If I’m being honest, life without Lucy really sucks. 

 

…I’m not a fan of the Boy Scouts, or the Catholic church for that matter.

 

…Selfies, where it’s just you, preening for the camera, well, I don’t know about that.

 

…Sometimes I get “junk” email in my inbox, something trying to get me to update a password, or email back to accept a phantom bequest of millions of dollars, and I’ll think—Come on, no person is that stupid. Until I remember I have been one once.

 

…The guy who lives next to me is a mechanical genius. I’m very much in awe of him.

 

…People go by on their paddleboards here.  It can be a strange procession at times. I wish they were miced up. It might be boring to listen in, but you never know.

 

…Yay. Summer’s here. The lake, wearing her green dress littered with diamond sequins, is more beautiful than anywhere else on the planet. And, yes, I stand by that.

 

…A book everyone should read is, “How the Word is Passed.” It’ll make you want to vomit, but it’ll be good for you.

 

…Life is life. We’re all figuring it out, together or not. So, no judgement here.

 

…Nobody’s past is perfect.

 

…I used to hate having a hairy chest when I was younger. I guess I thought it somehow hid my manly muscles. Well, now that I’m hairless, it’s all different. Be careful what you wish for. Yep.

 

…I don’t understand why there’s still a border crisis. Didn’t T____ build a wall, and make Mexico pay for it?

 

…There really isn’t any word to adequately explain slavery. None.

 

…It’s odd to miss someone who has done nothing but cause you pain and anxiety. It’s not exactly “Stockholm’s Syndrome,” but it’s in the neighborhood. After all, you don’t connect with someone, then completely disconnect with them, never looking back.

 

…It’s strange to spend hours reading a book, and then years later, barely remember what it was about.

 

…It’s romantic to root for the underdog, but a lot of times I want to see someone set the record, make history.

 

…We men have a habit of growing paunches, and if there are enough of us who look similarly, it legitimizes it and makes it okay.

 

…I favor shorter books, novels, like 300 pages. But for one double that, you sit in the bath a lot longer, and the breath of the stories and characters seep into the whorls of your skin.

 

…It’s late, but not too late to be kind. I keep reminding myself of that.

 

…I often forget how old I am until a celebrity my age or younger dies. Then it’s an ice bath awakening. Initial panic. Then nothing but gratitude.

 

…Lakes are a strange thing, if you think about them. I mean, how did all that water get plopped down in a gigantic hole that just happened to be there?

 

…The truth is—getting wrinkles and gray hair just means you’re really fortunate.

 

…Here’s an itty bitty prayer I often say to myself” “Jesus, re-storeth unto me the joy of my salvation.” 

 

…“Time will tell.” Or will it?

 

…If you looked at my desk top, you might be bewildered. Or entranced. What you wouldn’t be is bored.

 

…I used to think that ultra-marathoners were my heroes, almost beyond comprehension, running 100 and some miles. Now, without any resignation whatsoever, I realize it’s novelists I admire most.

 

…I realize how lucky I am to have so much time to think and ponder.

 

…People naturally look at you differently when you have means. They assume a lot, most along the stereotypical lines. What they never know is all that came before, the $1.79 lunches, the scrimping every day. They just see the mansion.

 

…I know I worry too much. But I’m never going to stop reading the news several times a day.

 

…I watch these people with their oars, standing up on paddle boards as they traverse the lake, and all I see is me on one, falling ass over tea kettle into the drink.

 

…You know you’re a lucky fucker when you wish people didn’t care about you so much.

 

…Our planet is dying, burning up, and we all know it, yet no one wants to pull their pants up and do something about it either because it costs too much or is too inconvenient in the short term. What a telling calamity. We should all be so ashamed.

 

...If you could know the future, would you want to? I don’t think I would. I used to feel differently, but not anymore.

 

…“Our hardest task is to teach anyone to count on the future.” Barbara Kingsolver, “The Poisonwood Bible.”

 

…“The above is a really dour, and pessimistic, quote, but I liked the sound of it, and for her book (which you must read, if you haven’t already) it is perfectly suited.

 

…I like to think I am open-minded, or at least that I’m trying harder to be that way, but if you tell me you are a fan of Trump, well…

 

…I’ve been writing here a long time. If you’ve been around the ride this whole time, well, I owe you big time.