My Stories
-
Dad’s Top Drawer
I remember when I was a kid what an awesome adventure it was to sneak into my Dad’s top drawer whenever the opportunity presented itself. When I opened the drawer I might as well have been a pirate and discovered all the gold on a deserted island. Thats how awesome it felt. In this drawer…
-
The Bottles Behind Me
I couldn’t sleep, so I got back up. The house was quiet. My wife was upstairs sleeping like a baby. She has always been able to do that—put her head down, close her eyes, and disappear into sleep. Meanwhile, I was downstairs waiting for the gabapentin to kick in. My back was aching badly from…
-
Losing Sight, Not Vision
There are losses you can prepare for, at least in theory. Jobs end. Children grow up. Bodies age. Time takes what it takes, usually a little at a time. But eyesight? I never imagined having to surrender that. I never imagined opening my eyes and discovering that the world I had trusted all my life—the…
-
Dad, It’s Beautiful
Some childhood memories fade until only a few scattered pieces remain. Others stay with us for reasons we don’t fully understand until much later in life. One of my earliest memories is of being a very little boy, walking beside my dad while holding his hand. He was taking me to see the ocean for…
-
Key West: The Tour I Never Wanted to End
I arrived in Key West in 1992 carrying a Coast Guard uniform, a new assignment, and a personal life that was beginning to come apart. From the outside, Key West looked like paradise. Blue water stretched toward the horizon. Palm trees moved in the warm breeze, boats filled the marinas, and the island seemed to…
-
The Pilot Who Finally Came Home
This story is shared in honor of Captain Ellis Spear Middleton II and his daughter, Hart Asbury, whose memory keeps his story alive. I met her on a walking track. It was just another morning—people circling, getting their steps in, doing what we all try to do… stay healthy a little longer. She was walking…