Goodbye Melet
I’ve done plenty of tough things in my life and being a Dad is definitely the hardest; the job description changes almost daily. As both parents and children grow and evolve so do the challenges of parenting. Yet I’ve known folks that have made it look easy and Melet Antonakos was one of those […]
Goodbye Pip
It was just another late Spring afternoon, the warm May breeze had our neighborhood’s flowers dancing and our minds on thoughts of a summer filled with a lot of nothing. The four of us were walking home from the pool when Holly said we were being followed. We looked back and saw an obviously lost, […]
Do you hear that?
Those were foot-steps. No question about it. Even in the darkness I could see the fright on my wife’s face. She threw the blanket over her and clutched me like never before, the flesh on my shoulders proving no match for her recently manicured nails. Someone was walking on the third floor of my […]
“I’m Going Home” Part 5 of Phil and Rannie’s Story
I surprise Rannie. Usually I call before coming over but this time I just showed up. She opens the door and her eyes light up. “Hello my love!” We hug one another, she invites me in then offers me a scotch but I settle for water. “Well honestly I think I’m out of scotch anyway, […]
“A Friend is Coming to Visit” Part 4 of Phil and Rannie’s Story
Phil has lost more weight, his pajama clad form looks as if he’s become one with the bed, and his body has sort of melded into the sheets and blankets. I sit down next to him and reach for his hand and he grimaces in pain so I release his hand. For weeks his daughters […]
“Mr. Tall, Grey and Handsome” Part 3 of Phil and Rannie’s Story
Phil is asleep today. I look into his bedroom and he’s noticeably thinner. His skin looks like it’s clinging directly to his bones. Cancer will do that. I put my arm around Rannie and she droops her head on my shoulder. A silent tear races down her cheek. “I’m going to miss him so much. […]
“I Brought You Some Cookies” Part 2 of Phil and Rannie’s Story
“Chocolate chip with cinnamon.” Phil is lying in bed and looks noticeably thinner, his right eye is a little crooked but when he sees me he breaks into an enormous smile. He props himself up on his elbows, grimaces in pain then his smile quickly returns. Earlier that day I stopped at a traditional grocery […]
“Are You Scared?” Part 1 of Phil and Rannie’s Story
The bedside pump softly gurgles as it pushes oxygen through fresh water. White noise, it’s rain softly falling on a tin roof or the gentle whoosh of seawater on a sandy shore. Just the accompaniment for a dying man. Phil draws a breath through the clear tube and reaches to his nose, adjusts the tubes […]
Puffball Tacos
Let’s make this perfectly clear. Eating the wrong wild mushroom can KILL you. Not quickly like Clint Eastwood’s creepy Union soldier character in The Beguiled but over the course of a few painful weeks by destroying your liver. So DO NOT read this then strut into your neighbor’s artificially bright Chem-Lawn yard, pluck ANYTHING out of the […]
Patience Please
In my lifetime I have been fortunate enough to save the lives of two little girls. One of those little girls was my daughter Holly that my wife Amy and I adopted from Social Services when she was one month shy of her sixth birthday. The other was a stranger, a charming little brunette maybe […]