Month: June 2023

I was pulling into the grocery store parking lot yesterday, and I happened to notice this dear soul unloading her groceries a few spots away.  It was an interesting process, because her cart was full of things in multiple store plastic bags.  It looked like several dozen bags.  She pulled out her own supply of reusable bags from the back seat, and proceeded to repack the groceries into her reusable ones, presumably to make them easier to carry? Who knows.  As those that know me best are aware, shy reticence really isn’t one of my skills.  It took every ounce of strength for me not to go over to her and say, “No, no . . . .  ” It seemed like a teachable moment, but in this case, I showed uncharacteristic restraint. 

Continue reading “More “Unclear On the Concept””

It’s a time to remember all fathers, be they biological, father figures, favorite uncles, surrogates, and others that have played or continue to play a role.  I often think of my father, a man left without his own at age three and left him nothing but a name, and who survived two stepfathers, one of whom he connected with for a short time, and one with whom he didn’t, and of consequence didn’t really have a model.  He was an only child, and thus didn’t have any siblings with whom to share the experience.  Considering that, he did remarkably well in the parent department, raising three of us with generosity.  He wasn’t a demonstrably doting parent, but we knew that he loved and cared deeply about all of us.  I had a personality closest to my mother’s, so he and I were perhaps closer than my brother or sister, because I understood him. Oh, yes.  He loved them both, but my brother was a bit of a challenge, and my sister, the youngest, was the princess.  When it came to managing his affairs later on, that became my role.

Continue reading “As Father’s Day Looms Once Again”