Where seeds of thought have room to grow
Category: Remember when…
-
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…
-
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.…
-
A father gives advice A father nourishes the body and the soul A father encourages A father reads A father lends a hand A father plays A father offers support A father sticks close by your side A father makes memories A father teaches A father laughs A father is…
-
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…
-
I heard Garth Brooks sing "If Tomorrow Never Comes…" on the radio the other day. It was the same day that I heard about the unexpected passing of one of my mom's closest friends. Mama and Martha went to the same high school but didn't become friends until they worked for the same company years…
-
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,…
-
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…
-
There came a time in high school when I was tossed out of my comfortable social nest. The group I had identified with for years…clung to like a raft in the treacherous middle and high school seas…wrapped around myself like a safe (I thought) cocoon…well, they decided one day that I just didn't belong with them anymore. I racked my…
-
The moment your baby is born, your heart grows so much with love that you think it will explode out of your chest. A second later, you have a vision of this tiny baby all grown up, leaving you to find its own way in this big world, and you feel the searing pain of…
-
For the first time in years, I actually saw my mother on Mother's Day instead of telling her how much I love and appreciate her via a card and a phone call. It meant missing church and spending hours on the road Sunday morning, but Daniel (middle son) awoke early enough to send me off…
Long Hollow 