Neil Sedaka sang “Breaking up is hard to do.” It was 1962, I was 14 years old, too socially inept to have a girlfriend so never experienced the hardship of breaking up. But the title inspired me to think about how growing up is hard to do. From farm to town. I farmed until I…
Musings
“Friennds”
“Friennds. Friennds.” Her soft, plaintive cry hardly penetrated the stillness of the morning. Five-year-old Amy stood at the end of the driveway and looked both ways. “Friennds. Friennds.” Amy’s family had just moved to their new house. She had to leave all her friends behind but her parents assured Amy there would be new ones…
Dying for Love
Themes of love and death are pervasive in the arts throughout history. Poets, philosophers, novelists have wrestled with the human disposition towards ‘dying for love,’ ‘dying to self for love,’ ‘dying to love.’ These nuances reveal the complexities of human relationships. Dying for love. Does this mean dying figuratively because of having love? Or because…
It’s never too late . . .
Meet my friend Henry. I can say ‘friend’ even though I met him just recently at the gym. He’s the kind of guy I want as a friend. 93 years old. Pushes his walker at a good c lip as he enters the gym with determined focus. Heads straight to the first of his…
A word about my writing
Fellow travellers for the journey. Having coffee with a writing advocate, he mentioned my pieces are getting longer – but assured me it was okay. Nevertheless, the observation was instructive to be more vigilant in assessing the breadth of material I include, its relevance to the topic at hand, as well as the compactness with…
Juxtaposition – a lesson from the ‘Up’ movie
Juxta (next to). Pose (to place). Juxtapose (to place next to). ‘Juxtaposition‘ describes a situation where two elements that don’t seem to belong together are placed side by side. The contrast heightens emotional impact, creates irony, conveys a clash of realities, and engages the reader, viewer, or listener more dynamically than if each element was…
“If only . . .” or “At least . . .”? – the power of regret
It was the women’s individual cycling road race at 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Anna van der Breggen (center) won gold “by the width of a tire.” Emma Johansson (on left) got silver. And Elisa Borghini (on right) came in third for bronze. At the finish line, Anna (gold) raised her arms in…
How much is enough? . . . Sometimes ‘less is more’
This picture reminds me of a childhood experience. An uncle offered me a choice between two coins: a nickel or a dime. He didn’t include a quarter since it would have defeated the exercise. Of course I took the nickel. You know why. I was 5 years old. My awareness for the respective value of…
“You can do it . . . !”
“You can do it, Ron! You can do it!” Mile 17 or 18 of the New York City Marathon. What’s often called ‘hitting the wall.’ A point in the 26.2 miles where a runner longs to just collapse into a fetal position on the sidewalk. I had already shifted into an even slower gear than…
Mark and Crystal
It’s a pleasant Sunday morning in September, a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, and I’m heading to church. A contemporary service that meets in an old theatre on a downtown street found in every city. You know the one. The street where ‘less-than-desirable-to-meet’ people tend to hang out. I was about to walk past this…