The pic above represents of one the most rewarding and stupid decisions of my life. Back in high school, I got a lot of A’s, but never one in physical education—you had to be a super jock in regular PE, everyone on sports teams got them. Dad had razzed me a lot, so I bet him $5 I would my senior year. Distance running came fairly easy on a regular PE class level, so I checked out cross country. The best 10 ran varsity, the next 10 junior varsity. I figured…
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image by Andrea Rebello
Wipe Out--Ourselves
Back in high school, until one of us had a car, we’d hitchhike from Long Beach to Huntington Beach, also known as Surf City. South of the pier between guard stations 3 and 5 provided some of the best body surfing waves, so we’d swim to the outer break and merge with the water to catch one that would drive us shoreward until our bellies scraped the sand. Yeah, sometimes we’d target pretty girls standing in the shallow water, to come close enough to prompt their pretend-to-be-afraid screams. Sometimes we’d...
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image from Travel by Desine
Somebody's Watching
Just about everyone recognizes the iconic picture “Big Brother is Watching You,” from Orwell’s classic 1984. And while many fear how forms of technology have made this real, let’s keep this human. We’re not as private as we think. Back in college daze, several of us left our homes in Long Beach and headed for Independence Creek, about 300 miles north. In the interest of full disclosure, I had abandoned a relationship with God in my searching, although I still attended church. Mostly social reasons, frankly. So we pulled into a hidden spot...
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Lay It Down
Most of us struggle with self-will, and that problem most emerges in marriage. No other relationship so blends the amount of time spent together and the intricate meshing of lives with its closeness and importance. Understandably, that connection gets the most threatened by our selfishness. Ironic, the surprise that hit me on our 39th anniversary celebration...
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image by maryland-trout-stocking
Untouched
Some follow. Stalkers. They spot their prey, stay in sight until vulnerability maxes out, then they act. Following the trout stocking truck, they wait until it leaves and throw their line and Power Baited hook into the stream, in dreams of landing trout. Many trout. Large trout. Trout stunned by being transplanted from their comfortable home into a planting truck and then dumped into a frigid stream. Easy trout. And while I did that some in my younger years...
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image from dw.com
Appearances Deceive
Dan Hicks, the NBC announcer for the Olympics women’s super-G, declared, “It’s Anna Veith of Austria who repeats as Olympic super-G champion!” After a commercial, NBC went to figure skating. The result pleased me; that made four consecutive gold medals in that event for Austria. I appreciate talent, hard work, and diligence, and Austria’s alpine program shows that. At least, it appeared that way—NBC said so. But...
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image by world-first.co.uk
I'm Done
Some time back in a small group, a woman asked another who was in her eighth month of pregnancy, how she was doing. “I’m done. I just want this over. I don’t want to be pregnant anymore.” Some qualifications. I have no idea if all or most or some or maybe only this pregnant woman feel this way. I’m a guy. Never been pregnant. But I get...
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Kootenay Ferry, across Kootenay Lake
Learn the Customs
Our 2017 destination: Banff, Canada. The weather: rain. All over. We rode east through Washington, skirting the Canadian border. Mick’s bucket list included Banff, but the weather there was colder and wetter than where we were. Until we hit Sandpoint, and the rain and cold grew. We sheltered in place at a Sandpoint motel, trying to wait it out. When…
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