Family

  • Early in the Day of Cold and Green

    These are the salad days of my son and daughters, my nephews and nieces, not that they are cold and green, rather that it’s their heyday, their walk in the sun, although salad, like the heyday of the young, can quickly go from crisp and cool to limp and warm, in an East of Eden…

    Read more →

  • I was holding Jude when I realized why I steal babies. We were at Jace and Carly Davis’ wedding and Jude looked like he wanted me to hold him so I held out my arms and he held out his and we sashayed about the dance floor doing the Baby locomotion. More about baby stealing…

    Read more →

  • If you’ve ever wondered what goes on in the mind of an introvert writer, here it is. We like judging people. Not in the indicting sense, but rather as a playful mind game that often displaces conversation. Shame on us who prefer an imagined conversation rather than reality. It does, however, assuage the boredom of…

    Read more →

  • All the Laughs on Your Side

    “Do you have time to come home and help Dad? He fell and broke his leg.” Well, yes Mom, since you put it that way, I think I can find the time. And thanks for phrasing it in a non-urgent way so as not to alarm me and also give me an out in case…

    Read more →

  • A Thousand Pines

    He can tell a story better than Mark Twain on a riverboat drinking whiskey in the moonlight, although the surreal and the absurd are difficult to distinguish from reality. I hang near him at family gatherings, because I’m a writer and he gives me stuff you can’t make up. And like Seinfeld’s blonde girlfriend who…

    Read more →

  • Dancing with Lauren Martin

    I told everyone that I would not cry and I did not. But that was my brave face in front of friends and family. It was a long walk down the aisle, about 100 yards from the garden to the wedding tree. Lauren and I chatted as we strolled toward our family and friends, but…

    Read more →

  • The Wedding Tree

    If the opposite of love is apathy, then the least one can do in a marriage is care enough to occasionally say, “I hate you.” I never really learned how to constructively argue until the 10th year of our marriage, (I actually yelled at Karen) which was a revelation to me, not that confrontation is…

    Read more →

  • A Family of $2 Bills

    I married into a family of seven Toms. My father-in-law, two brothers-in-law, two nephews, one son of a nephew, and a husband of a cousin, all named Tom. It’s fitting then, that my daughter will soon marry Thomas Beck Martin. Toms are ubiquitous in our family so it seems strange to me that a $2…

    Read more →

  • Hiking Like Elijah

    Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “I did not ask for success; I asked for wonder.” Wonder is one of the reasons I stare at constellations, marvel at newborn babes, and hike with my son. We have hiked many miles over the years. Waterfall near Ithaca, NY The best part of hiking has always been wondering what’s…

    Read more →

  • Mystery Vacation

    Some pictures and commentary from our road trip to New York. Encountered a wandering imp named David in Springfield, MO who eagerly joined in our roadside yoga in a lovely shaded park near the zoo. We enjoyed the first of daily pauses, listening to our designated poet, assigned joke teller, daily homily giver and quote maker.Enjoying Sunday…

    Read more →