People are the most amazing thing of all to write about. Here are some of my favorite people.
What does it mean when your parents die? How about when their whole generation has moved on to the next life? My Mom passed away two days before Christmas, so I am trying to figure that out. She was the last of her generation in our family as she joined… Continue reading
When you get married, you not only marry your wife or your husband, but you are also grafted into each other’s family, and their traditions. One of Patty’s family’s Memorial Day traditions was to visit the various small town cemeteries where loved ones were buried to place flowers on their… Continue reading
We are living in strange times, aren’t we? I certainly did not want for anyone to take an unnecessary chance to be exposed to a disease that took my brother’s life. Also, an oversized chapel at the funeral home did not seem like the right setting for what would have… Continue reading
The deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Charles Krauthammer may be practically forgotten and long gone from the internet’s trending topics by now. Yet, they deserve to be remembered. They were artists who, to the best of my knowledge, never painted a portrait or sculpted a bust. They used words, reasoning,… Continue reading
Aunt Twila squealed when she hugged you. Really, it was her hearing aid that squealed. She was profoundly hard of hearing from a childhood illness and had just a bit of a speech impediment, as a result. As my mother-in-law was high strung and industrious, her sister, Twila, was laid… Continue reading
He was a little short guy who always sported a mischievous grin and always carried a few hundred dollar bills in his wallet. While generally a quiet person, he was not afraid to speak his mind when he decided it was necessary to do so. A repository of homespun wisdom, he would often preface… Continue reading
Off hand I can’t recall much I learned in high school. I suppose if someone quizzed me I might be surprised what all I did remember. But forty-five years later, I certainly remember two teachers. Mr. Blakely was a very intellectual and savvy sort of guy. He taught International Relations… Continue reading
Dan Stika lives a full life doing the things he loves and giving back to the community. He has lived in Kenosha for all of his seventy-six years. After he retired, Dan decided to obtain his undergrad degree. He enjoyed the experience so much that he went on to get… Continue reading
Here is my column in the Kenosha News published October 16th. I am writing from my hometown, St. Joseph, Missouri. Yesterday, I was honored to have a small role in the memorial service for my favorite uncle. The day before, my mom and I began hospice care for my ninety-year-old… Continue reading
Here are the remarks that I shared at my Dad’s funeral on October 25th. My Dad did things right. If he took on a job, he did it right. He would give attention to detail and put in the time required to complete the task to the very best of… Continue reading
In the summer, I was free to roam the entirety of the tiny Midwestern village, and do things with my favorite person on earth, my Grandpa. But fishing with Grandpa was the best thing ever. He got excited about fishing. I got excited about fishing. There was over sixty years… Continue reading
Sam My Grandpa made everything better. He was my favorite person in the whole world. Somehow, he merged a stern German demeanor with a tender, yet manly love. As I look back, I think I was special to him, like he was to me. Six-foot-tall. Back straight as a broomstick.… Continue reading
We make messes. We all do. We fail. We disappoint others, and even ourselves. We wreck havoc in our own lives, and in the lives of the people who look up to us. All of us do, to varying degrees. Some failures are subtle incidents of inappropriateness. Others are blaring… Continue reading
Here is a copy of my column from Monday’s Kenosha News. I never thought about Leonard Nimoy dying, even after he was recently admitted to the hospital suffering from COPD at eighty-three years of age. He was Mr. Spock for Pete sake! As Mr. Spock, he just got cooler as… Continue reading
This post is part of the “Crash” synchroblog: Robin Williams Performances We Remember and Why. Twenty year-old Will Hunting (Damon) is an undiscovered mathematical genius who grew up being regularly beaten by his father. He too developed anger management issues and he had a way of torpedoing any serious relationship.… Continue reading
People around the world have become a part of the community of the shocked and heartbroken, as they grapple with the death of the beloved, frenetic comedian and Academy Award-winning actor, Robin Williams. We all loved this guy, the comedic genius who made our heads spin, the actor who melted… Continue reading
My mother’s dad was a six foot tall, straight-standing German, the first generation born in the U.S. As a kid, I was fascinated by the fact that he served as an interpreter for the U.S. Army in WWI, and once met General John J.“Black Jack” Pershing, the commander of U.S. forces in… Continue reading
Out of all of my favorite musicians, there is one artist that has a special place in my heart above all others. When I was a kid, Johnny Cash has reached the second peak of a career that that waxed and waned through six decades. In those days, Cash was… Continue reading
Forty years is a long time, especially, if you are living with me. Then, they’re like dog years. Somehow, Patty has put up with me all of these years. I don’t know how she has done it (You will have to ask her about that.) Anyway, tomorrow, we celebrate our fortieth… Continue reading
It’s funny where it comes from. I am inspired by my ninety-one year old uncle that I love to visit when I am back in Missouri. To this day, he carries a bit of shrapnel in his leg from WWII that causes him some difficulty in walking. Yet, he finds… Continue reading
Photo credit: Marcel Oosterwijk. Creative Commons My seventeen-day long trip to St. Joseph, Missouri was a packed full of things to be done for my folks…packing, moving, having a sale, closing out the old apartment, taking over their business affairs, unpacking, taking Dad to the hospital, countless trips between the old… Continue reading
Image by brizzle born and bred. Creative Commons. I was born right in the middle of the Baby Boom Generation (1946-1964). The Cuban Missile Crisis, The Cold War, The Civil Rights Movement, the assassinations of John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., the Vietnam War, student unrest, illicit drug… Continue reading
Millennials have been in the news a lot lately. Companies want to know how to market their products to this new, coming of age generation and employers want to know how to recruit and manage new talent that has a much different view of success. Anyway, this millennial frenzy got… Continue reading
I like senior citizens, perhaps because I am well on my way to becoming one. There are some ways in which I don’t like for people to act their age. Middle-aged people and older people that talk about their ailments and complain about taxes incessantly get on my nerves. But when… Continue reading
Good Friday sucked. The original one was filled with brutality, torture, confusion, doubt, guilt, fear, and oppressive grief. My Good Friday began in a cemetery in a military chapel beside one of those massive fields with their row after row of tidy white grave markers of veterans. The seats in the… Continue reading
My Uncle Bob (John R. Hager) the oldest of my Dad’s four siblings, passed away last Friday. The “R” is for Robert and everyone called him “Bob.” I have only recently learned of some of the details his full life. After high school, he helped build a naval base in the… Continue reading
I was mesmerized by Whitney Houston’s televised memorial service. Maybe, I do miss church gatherings a little bit after all. They certainly “had church”! Whitney was blessed with an amazing gift, a voice that she honed into something extraordinary. She was, apparently, a very sweet, relational soul with an abiding faith in… Continue reading
This post is part of the synchroblog, Down We Go. We all have our prejudices. Personally, I am leery of people who appear to have it all together. Right now, I am recalling the proper, Christian Grandmother who kept the birth of her granddaughter secret because she was born before her mother… Continue reading
Celebrity Edition There are a few well-known people that have made my list of admirable folks, including a singer, a football coach, a Bible teacher, and a comedian. Johnny Cash Cash is always at the top of my “most admired” list because he was true to himself. His musical… Continue reading
I am a bit of a cynic, so I don’t have many heroes. Like everybody else, I have been disappointed, hurt, and dissed by people. Sometimes I think about those people, but not very often, because I choose to focus on that which builds, rather than that (those) who would pull… Continue reading
Thirty-one years ago, I was twenty-five, Patty was just twenty-three and Nathan was thinking about finally being born. You see, according to the doctor, he was nearly a month late. He has always been one to rarely change his mind and when he found his zone, he stayed with it. So,… Continue reading
I was at my son’s watching my favorite NFL team be soundly trounced by a divisional opponent last Sunday, when my iPhone vibrated indicating a new email. That’s how I learned of Gary’s death from a sudden heart attack on Saturday. Like all of you, I was shocked saddened and… Continue reading
Amuck: to rush about wildly That pretty well describes visits from my Grandson Sam, especially, this last one. The boy is a five-year-old perpetual motion machine. Sam and I kept each other busy last week. We toured the Jelly Belly factory just up the road (his favorite thing to do) Went to two… Continue reading
Thirty-six years ago, an immature, twenty-year-old, bushy-haired, long side burned, guitar playing, hippie-like, preacher boy with an uncertain future, but a cool ’66 Mustang married a far more stable and mature eighteen-year-old girl with beautiful straight, long black hair and gorgeous big brown eyes, one week out of high school.… Continue reading
Thirty-two years ago, I was twenty-four, Patty was twenty-two, Nathan wasn’t even a twinkle in my eye, and Michelle was about to enter the world. Always a pretty girl with big brown eyes An advanced child and early walker and talker A high achiever, being valedictorian of her junior high… Continue reading
Last Thursday my forty-eight-year-old cousin, Tim passed out at his job in St. Joseph, Missouri and entered eternity with Jesus. Tim was the youngest of all the cousins and I still think of him as being much younger than his true age. He grew up in the rural northwestern Missouri… Continue reading
Maybe it was the release of Johnny Cash’s last CD, seven years after his death, but something got me thinking about the people who have died that I would really like to spend some time with. I find it strange that I can only think of a few. That might… Continue reading
You may think of Willie Nelson as an ancient pothead hippie with a nasal voice and a worn-out guitar. You wouldn’t be entirely wrong, but that description is vastly inadequate caricature. Thanks to my son and daughter-in-law who gifted us with tickets, we saw Willie in concert at a nearby historic… Continue reading
