My Back Pages

My Back Pages: Summer : Summer! What I have waited for all year... I love the Spring, but I am head over heels IN LOVE with Summer. My favorite day is the Summer So...

Summer! What I have waited for all year... I love the Spring, but I am head over heels IN LOVE with Summer. My favorite day is the Summer Solstice... the longest day of the year. You will usually find me out early, and staying out late... I need to absorb every single second of light that is given to me on this day. It is Yin and Yang.. good and bad... it signals the beginning of the hot Summer season; but, sadly, it also signals the beginning of the Sun's inexorable march south. The days are beautiful, but each day is slightly shorter. Still, I love it. I love every drop of sweat that trickles from me. I love the caress of the Sun's rays on my aging body. I love the songs of all the birds, starting early in the morning, and lasting until dusk. Sadly, my hearing has deteriorated to the point where I no longer hear the peepers and the crickets singing at night. I miss those songs. However, I can still see the lightning bugs signaling to each other, as they search for a mate. I c

My Back Pages: Respect, Family, Friends, and the Facebook Problem... :   I am really upset! I usually do not start my blogs with this kind of a statement, but I have to put this out there because someone that I ...

  I am really upset! I usually do not start my blogs with this kind of a statement, but I have to put this out there because someone that I love with all of my heart and soul is being disrespected simply because of her political beliefs. That person is my soulmate, my love, my wife.... Sheryl. She's being disrespected by members of my family and some of my friends, and I will not tolerate it without making my feelings known.  First of all, if you have a differing opinion, you have a right to it. This is a free country. However, being disrespectful is not only unnecessary, it shows your lack of decorum. First, let me ask you all... and you know who the hell you are..... what has she ever done that you treat her so disrespectfully? You don't like her politics? Fine... you don't have to. She doesn't try to put down your political or religious beliefs, even though she may not agree with them.  I am so damned angry, I can hardly think clearly enough to write.. but I must pu

My Back Pages: Father's Day.. Dedicated to all the fathers who di... :  Another Father's Day has come. We celebrate that hard working man, who made our lives a bit better by all of their hard work. What sa...

 Another Father's Day has come. We celebrate that hard working man, who made our lives a bit better by all of their hard work. What saddens me is that so many are cast aside as the years wear on. Not necessarily purposely, but due to the pressing needs of immediate family. Soccer games, football games, baseball games... they all come to take precedence over visiting aging family members. It's not of any conscious neglect... it's just that the needs of those in the household overshadow those of the family that we have all left behind.   Those fathers that worked hard to make a better life for their children and step-children. Those who worked  so hard to try and make a better life than they had growing up; they are often overlooked and cast aside because the pressing issues of day to day life make it so hard to even think about them. Children demand and require attention. Aging parents are slowly pushed to the background....  the only time they are paid any attention to i

My Back Pages: Friends and Loss In The Modern Age : Facebook... Twitter... I love the ability that we have to reach out and find old friends, renew acquaintances, and find new friends across t...

Facebook... Twitter... I love the ability that we have to reach out and find old friends, renew acquaintances, and find new friends across the globe. It's a heady, fascinating thing. We get to meet new people, make friends in different cities... different countries.. and have meaningful dialogues with each other. We can transcend cultural, religious, and political differences, and establish real friendships, despite our differences. I have made many new friends this way, and found so many friends from my past that it boggles the mind. Some, I have sought for years (Yes, Don Radogna, I mean you). Others, I have thought about from time to time, and stumbled on while reaching out to others. It's an amazing time for us. We can use it to all come together, or to affirm the differences that our prejudices already have told us that we have. I choose the former.  Making new friends is exciting and fun, and it was through this means that I became friends with Ginger Lloyd Wood. I was