Family – Embrace the Absurd

Go Home, Frank. Go Home.

While joining the rest of the world in mourning Pope Francis, there has also been another Francis weighing heavy on my heart and mind these past two weeks. A few days before Pope Francis passed away, my cousin Frank succumbed to the aggressive form of brain cancer he had been fighting these past few months.

To Every Thing There Is A Season

This week gave birth to another season of professional football. It’s the 105th season for the National Football League, the second in the league’s Taylor Swift Era, and my first without my Uncle Sal who passed away in June. I cannot think about football without thinking of him.

A Long Time Coming

Too bad I used “Party In The USA” as the title of my last post, because we are certainly partying in our part of the USA. The Boston Celtics are back on top of the basketball world – where they lived comfortably for the first three decades of my life.

It Was Always In The Cards

The first day of spring. Easter. Opening Day!

All full of hope and the promise of renewal and rebirth.

Reflecting on Opening Day’s past, however, reveals that my future was there, staring me in the face all along.

Family Ties

There are a few things I miss since stepping away from working full-time, but so many more that I don’t miss at all. And then there are my neckties.

For Every Taylor …

Above all else there is Taylor Swift. No one who has followed my blog is surprised by that opening sentence. But for every Taylor Swift there are hundreds, actually thousands, of others, incredibly talented performers who are not Taylor Swift. Some of them may even be better singers, songwriters, or dancers than Taylor; have aContinue reading “For Every Taylor …”

Teacher Man

“I didn’t call myself anything. I was more than a teacher. And less. In the high school classroom you are a drill sergeant, a rabbi, a shoulder to cry on, a disciplinarian, a singer, a low-level scholar, a clerk, a referee, a clown, a counselor, a dress-code enforcer, a conductor, an apologist, a philosopher, aContinue reading “Teacher Man”

July 4th – A Day to Take Stock

Growing up in Boston – the cradle of liberty, the birthplace of the American Revolution – the meaning of The Fourth of July was crystal clear. It was a day of celebration and remembrance, yes; but also, a day with an eye toward the future, a day to take stock of the three things mostContinue reading “July 4th – A Day to Take Stock”

You Can Go Home Again

Last week, I attended my very first NEERO conference. Seems a strange thing to say about a conference I have gone to 31 times since April 1989 when I made that very same drive over the Piscataqua River Bridge on I-95 from Maine to New Hampshire, took Exit 7 near the bottom of the bridge,Continue reading “You Can Go Home Again”

Our House

It was February 1992 when my wife and I moved into this house that has now been our home for 30 years. It’s the house where we became a family when our daughter arrived in 1993. While I can’t say that our house is a very, very, very fine house we have made this placeContinue reading “Our House”