Where seeds of thought have room to grow
Category: My Evolution
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I'll be celebrating our country's birthday today by earning a paycheck at the winery. How much more American is that? But while I'm standing there listening to music, smiling and serving customers, sweating in the summer heat and hoping for at least a glimpse of fireworks, my mind will be drifting back to Fourths of…
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I was born and grew up in a town nicknamed Stink-a-dena on the Houston Ship Channel. In December, the blue northers pushed the scent of the paper mill onto our street. I still connect that smell with Christmas. The plants lining the ship channel paid tons of property taxes, so we had great schools. That's…
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Mud. Lots of mud. And mosquitoes. Foremen who stole from the company. Welders who smoked pot in the weld-out yard. A warehouse worker who bragged about being high on Vicodin. A co-worker nicknamed "Moo Cow", who carried a gun in her purse before it was legal and had a tattoo when they were still edgy.…
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I found myself with a few hours to kill one morning this week with nary a Starbucks in sight. So I stepped into the next best thing – a Whataburger. I knew they'd have coffee, a restroom, air-conditioning, and space for reading and writing the time away. Everything I needed. "You doing alright, ma'am?" It was…
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"…..I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance. Don’t bother with work you don’t believe in any more than you would a spouse you’re not crazy about, lest you too find yourself on the wrong side of a Baltimore Orioles…
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Wouldn't it be fun to answer "Imagineer" on forms asking your occupation? I've spent the past few days filling out applications and sending my eclectic resume off with a prayer into internet-land. "Are you our Imagineer?" was the title of one job post, and I thought "Yes! Yes, I believe I am!" I'm still waiting…
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One September about twelve years ago I made a phone call to a previously unknown-to-me condominium complex in Port Aransas, Texas, and reserved a three bedroom condo on the 5th floor. I needed to escape. Not a permanent escape, of course. Just a few days all to myself, where I didn't have to cook anything,…
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A day with our kids and other families, swimming in a cold river, eating fresh pineapple, grilling burgers… a night spent laughing and dancing to Johnny Dee and the Rocket '88s… and then a phone call early on that Tuesday morning afterwards that made me realize how much I had been taking for granted and…
Long Hollow 