For a dollar she had purchased a pack of miscellaneous seeds, tossed them onto the prepared soil, scraped a bit of dirt over the top, sprinkled awhile with water, and otherwise forgot about them given she’d other things to do. In a modern day sequel to the fairy tale about Jack-and-the-Beanstalk, seemed like overnight three sunflowers […]
Letter: Love Is Like That
It was very, very early morning, the inky blackness of the sky above seamlessly meshing with the just as black water below. I knew they were out there. I could hear them. Somewhere. Only as I moved silently along did I occasionally catch a glimpse of them, their shadowy figures briefly revealed by the faint […]
Letter: “Fly Away!”
She could hear the roar of the crowd as fans and foes alike stand to their feet, so many fans gleefully hopeful with hands and arms stretched toward the heavens; just as many fans grimacing in dismay with hands clasped below their chins, all eyes gawking at the baseball arcing higher and higher toward the […]
Letter: Daddies Raising Daughters, With Mommy’s Help
At a year-and-a-half she didn’t show any interest yet in potty training. She and her daddy – who she was able to distinguish from her mommy by accurately pointing out who was who – would stack blocks together (their record was five before she knocked them all down). She could get round pegs into round […]
Letter: Get On With Living … or Dying
My favorite season of the year to row is Autumn. Sometimes with others, most often alone. Boat traffic on the lake is minimal; the trees along the shoreline are resplendent in color; not a sound is heard but the rhythmic splash of the oars and my labored breathing; and the green-become-red and yellow leaves layer […]
Letter: Bigger Buckets – Why Dads Matter, Why Ordinary Will Not Do
A father and his two little daughters came down to go fishing at our lake-front public dock. The bell rang as the door opened and I exited my office to greet them, although I had already seen them on the camera monitor screen as they came down the stairs. “Could I get some bait?” the […]
Letter: The Frog Prince, A love Story, and What Really Happened
His eyes bulged, his lips were bulbous, and his chin – if it could be identified as that – drooped and dragged in the dirt as he occasionally, but very rarely, pushed himself along, the quite ugly toad’s much preferred preference being the lily pad upon which he now reclined, though how his overlarge body […]
Letter: Those Three Words
‘Breaking News!’ So began the card accompanying the bouquet of daisies just delivered to her door. ‘Stars are no longer available to purchase in the name of the one you love. ‘We apologize for the consternation that will no doubt accompany this announcement but we must inform all lovers and star gazers that all constellations, all […]
Letter: “Ordinary No, Really Don’t Think So”
He couldn’t afford much by which to express his love for her. He wanted to buy her the most beautiful and the biggest bouquet from among the many offerings from the shop where the sweet scents and the fragrances of spring time filled his senses. Fringed petals as if created by pinking shears; nodding bell-shapes; […]