The Watering Hole When I was young, I used to watch wildlife shows on TV. I remember watching “Wild Kingdom” (with Marlon Perkins). For a little kid from Northeast Philadelphia, watching wildlife on TV was as close to the real thing as I could get. Marlon Perkins would narrate each episode, and his younger sidekick […]
Giving Birth
My oldest daughter was born on July 19, 1995, twenty-one years ago today. I was lucky enough to be in the delivery room for her birth. Men have only been allowed in delivery rooms since the mid-1970s. I don’t know anyone who is my fathers’ age who has witnessed the birth of a child. I […]
The Worst Financial Move I Ever Made
I swear that everything in this article is completely true, except for a couple of things that I made up. Years ago, my wife and I used to vacation on tropical beaches. Our attendants would feed us grapes, and wave palm fronds over us to create breezes. Then one day, we looked at each other, […]
Darwin Park
There is an expression “the joy is in the journey, not the destination”. But I think about the destination a lot. Yogi Berra once said “if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there?” I recently found a park near where I live. It is a destination. I take […]
Omaha Beach
My wife asked me, “Can you take my Uncle Ricky to lunch?” Her Uncle Ricky is in his mid-90’s. We were at the hospital, visiting his wife. “Yes” was the right answer. I knew that, so I said yes. But I wasn’t really sure what to talk about. Ricky (born Phil, but I’ve never heard […]
A Letter to Heather, from Darwin
[Heather is in Oklahoma this week, on a service trip sponsored by Villanova, and Habitat for Humanity. We were asked to write letters to Heather while she is in Oklahoma. This is a letter to her, from her dog Darwin.] Dear Heather, This is Darwin. Your Schnoodle buddy. We need to talk. I just found […]
The Vows We Took
When Theresa and I decided to get married, we promised each other that we would keep our wedding small. It was a back-yard affair, and we were paying for it, and we had no money. Smaller was better. We invited 50 people to a garden party at our home. That’s it. No horse-drawn carriages, no fireworks, […]
Ten Questions For Darwin
Dear Darwin, I have a few questions for you. The first is- how do you manage to take up so much of the bed and the sofa? You weigh 18 pounds. I weigh 170 pounds, Theresa weighs 100. How is it possible for you to hog so much of the bed?! You are a bed […]
My Legacy
I just finished watching the movie Boyhood. It’s a unique movie that follows a boy from first grade through his first year of college, a total span of 12 years. It’s the only movie that I know of that was filmed for that long. In the movie, the boy has a series of role models. […]
Face Time
I started using video calling with my family when I travel. Skype and FaceTime are great options for this. I have noticed a big difference in impact, between video calls and voice calls. I feel better after I see my family. I don’t feel so absent, even though I’m not there with them. —– I […]
