An escape from life — Recently I read a story about trees from a writer, and I got to thinking about “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”. …

One family member had wings growing up — Once upon a time a very long time ago, my younger brother Andrew found a bird in the yard. It was the middle of a beautiful Buffalo, NY summer morning. The sky was blue with billowy, white, fluffy clouds slowly drifting above. We had just finished watching the Saturday morning…

Requiring a step back to understand what the hell is really going on — Remember when you were a teen? Life just smacked this poor kid in the head, like a brick thrown through the window next to him as he sat drinking a soda and wondering, “What am I going to do? What can I do?” Hiding his head in his hands, the tears wanted to flow, like rainwater…

We have 75 chances (give or take) to get it right… — Our lives are filled with days, days between those days, and then more days. An easier way to bring this into focus is to know we have 75 years (give or take) to enjoy our lives, to just live, not waste, life. …

And you should be too… —

Short and Sweet — I am beginning to edit and re-write over 80 stories on Medium. These are all stories that were, for some reason, removed from publication. …

Finding normal in abnormal times — Sitting at his desk and listening to the news, this old man allows his mind to wander. The sky outside the French doors is a dark gray, heavily overcast, clouds gently covering the mountain tops, a reminder these are the Smoky Mountains. A light rain falls as winds gust from…

My late-night conversation with God. — The other night I was in bed, waiting for sleep to grab me, when suddenly I heard a man’s voice. Distant, faint at first, but then louder and clearer. Wait … he just chuckled. This scared the shit out of me. And I swear I could smell a cigar ……

Have your stories been deleted from publication? — This will be short, a post, not a story. Occasionally I return to past writing, look to see if I can edit the story, hone it, and publish it. Many of my earlier writing (2019–2021) was self-published and languished in place. Going back to view these writings (not for the…