Being a parent never comes with that all-important instruction manual. How many times have I wished there was an “operations manual” that I could refer to as I made my way through fatherhood? I was married at age 22, a dad at age 31, and divorced at age 36. After…

“What a friend we have in time…gives us children, makes us wine….tells us what to take or leave behind…” (lyrics by John Denver). The idea of writing about friendship has been knocking around my brain for a while now. Friends and friendships have always been very important to my life…

I always think that I am adjusted to the idea of death. My work at a large funeral home/cemetery/crematory/mausoleum for the past decade-plus has altered my view of death and dying. I recall how I was at one time afraid of the idea of dying. I would not even consider…

Politics has intrigued me since childhood. Or, more rightly so, plagued me! I am 69. I was in 4th grade when President Kennedy was assassinated. Like others at that same age, I have vivid images of all the events following that horrible tragic day. I watched closely how adults around…

My son is in the grips of addiction. Over the past decade, we have had to come to terms with what we can and cannot control. He is no longer a young man. He is on the “other side” of 35 years old now. I can’t ground him and send…

Books shape our lives and soothe our restless souls. Books teach us lessons about life and living. Family. Traditions. History. My mind has only ever been uplifted, enlightened, or educated by books. Antique books are a passion for me, and I collect literature from 1880 to 1910, in particular the…

I work for a large funeral home, cemetery, crematory, and mausoleum complex in the Midwest. This is how I remember the past few years of Covid. Everyone remembers the first rumblings of a new virus in the “East”. I believe we all knew that with world travel being what it…

“Aims and Aids to Success and Happiness” Teaching students how to cope with life, and LIVE. I love and collect antique books. One book in my collection is the one titled “The Royal Path of Life”. Published in 1882, you might wonder what lessons could possibly still have relevance today…

The very title of this article betrays the information contained. For the past 40 years, I have been actively collecting unique and unusual antique “Lifestyle” books. These books were often written by very unqualified “experts” who proposed all cures, solutions, theories, and instructions on how to live, improve, elevate, and…