Note about the photo: 1968 – The woman in the hat is my mother on the day she flew to America for the first time. Two of my sisters, one of my brothers, my paternal grandmother and a slew of…
Gratitude
Vulnerability has been a huge buzzword over the past few years. I suspect it’s in large part due to Brené Brown whom I greatly admire and respect from her 45-minutes’ worth of TED Talks that I have watched. I…
A Military Coup I make the choice daily to be the Queen of “my castle” aka my feelings, my heart and my mind. It requires great effort because there are lots of defensive soldiers who guard my castle. I…
As many of you know, I recently completed the final official stage of The Camino de Santiago de Compostela; a journey of approximately 120km/74 miles from Sarria to Santiago which winds through the spectacularly picturesque countryside of Northern Spain. …
I often find myself in what some consider to be strange places. “Strange” as in places they’ve never heard of before. The truth is I have often never heard of the places I visit either until I find myself…
Part 1: Slipping into my Senior Years in Vans™ aka “On the Road to I Don’t Give a Fuck”[1] April 8, 2015 I find myself here at the precipice of late middle age (44), where I am at moments,…
Life is all around us. Mother Nature shows us her dominion over us – Every. Single. Day. She gives us reasons to be grateful to her – Every. Single. Day. And we, her spoiled brats continually take, take and…
What are the odds… Of all the places I could be And you could be too; That I’d be me And you’d be you? And that we’d be here now, Right where we are – Out of all of…
Fear is the great equalizer. The indiscriminate disease of fear can strike any economic group, race, gender or age. Fear blinds us to the real issues at hand and seeks to subversively bind us to that which it has…
The concept of not living up to one’s potential is the malignant foundation of a lifelong, self-destructive, cancer-like belief structure. This terminal theory has probably broken more spirits and relationships than any other in modern-day society. We start the…
Wendell the Bunny lives on an island in Thailand which is home to many of the universe’s creatures however not ordinarily the home of the Eastern Cottontail Rabbit which is native to North America. The how of Wendell…
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam I am a curiosity here; an oddity for sure – a rare bird, a wild animal, the most foreign of foreigners. People stop and stare and tap their friends and their children so that…
An Unlikely Trio It was a relatively cool morning on the tropical island of Koh Samui and Terrence the Bull found himself more comfortable than he could remember being in quite some time. There had been a rough sea…
What use have we for the concept of heaven if we can have peace every day? What use have we for the concept of hell when we do not have fear? It is quite possible that both places exist but perhaps they…
The term and title “Sunrise Cataracts” was borne from a warning given to my mother to pass along to me. The warning was provided by a nephew of my mother’s during one of their bi-weekly phone calls. (Although he is my cousin,…
It was an exceptionally dark night in the jungle. It was the rainy season and although there were a million stars in the sky, nary a one could be seen from the forest floor on account of the dense…
You will know you’re doing it right When you no longer want to leave You will know you’re doing it right When you can stop just to breathe. You will know they love you When they disagree and fight…
You want me to be more like you? You want to fix my behavior and my thoughts too? Just a few minor adjustments are all that I need. To fit the image of what you want me to be.…
I’m losing my eyesight But have a clarity of vision like never before. I’ve lost the ability to make babies But I meet my children every day in the people I see and speak with for I give them…
A Fishy Platform Mr. Donald Man O’ War was the governor of the Western Reef which was an elected position. Although he had position, wealth, power; was well-traveled and had many fish vying for his romantic attention, his language…