[December 9, 2023] He was the most gorgeous black stallion I’d ever laid my eyes upon; his breed was a Morgan. I had a curious outlook on what it was like to be an adult. And that is expected of a young, outdoors, fun-loving, mostly shy kid from the Deep South. One of those experiences involved riding horses… Read More »
[December 4, 2023] My great aunt Marie Tabor was a beautiful woman, tall, energetic, smart, articulate, motivated, and dedicated to my Mom. She was the sister of my maternal Bigmama (Grandmother Blankenship). Aunt Rea lived her entire life in Little Rock, Arkansas, in a classic upscale neighborhood and was a hairdresser. She had no children, which may be… Read More »
[November 27, 2023] Bonnie was my first “girlfriend.” I was six years old, and now as I look back from many decades and a number of girlfriends later, I didn’t actually know what having a girlfriend meant. Some folks will say it’s not possible for a boy to have a girlfriend so young when he is immature, unfocused,… Read More »
[November 23, 2023] Rowen, long ago I was your age, eight years old and living in a small town, so small there was no traffic light, no grocery store, no park, and no library. Thanksgiving was a big holiday, with family coming in for miles around to eat a great meal cooked by my grandmother; we called her… Read More »
[November 17, 2023] “What’s the Boy Scouts?” I asked after my Dad said he’d signed me up as a brand-new Boy Scout. And the first meeting was that very night. Oh, great!! I started with the lowly rank of Tenderfoot. My brother was too young, so he had to stay home and help our Mom. He cried because… Read More »
[November 12, 2023] The rain was coming down hard. The night was hot. For that reason, I was allowed to sleep in Bigmama’s twin bed on the first floor, next to an open window; only the screen kept out the night air. An old, oscillating fan blew a breeze over me; occasionally, a spit of rain would come… Read More »
[November 10, 2023] I didn’t know it then, but I grew up privileged. Not with money, or status, or owning a big house or car or lots of clothes, but by being in the company of ordinary men, combat veterans from World War II and the Korean War, as well as those who served to protect us at… Read More »
[November 7, 2023] It was a big big room, dark and eerily quiet. I entered the first-grade classroom on the first day in the autumn of 1959 in a little town with no traffic lights, Mer Rouge, LA., deep in the antebellum south. The teacher showed an 8mm color home video of her class from the previous school… Read More »
[October 31, 2023] “It’s a bonanza!” yelled my brother Philip as he stared into his haul of goodies. He and I looked forward to Halloween because of the chocolate candy, dressing up in a costume, discovering which of our neighbors were generous and which were cheap, and seeing good friends, yet trying to figure out who was underneath… Read More »
[October 28, 2023] Our family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1966, when I was 14 and about to start the ninth grade. That city, one of my favorites in Texas, had a mixed history of hurricanes, high humidity, lots of birds, and little emphasis on schools. When we arrived, a tropical storm had done a lot of… Read More »