(ROCKWALL, TX – April 5, 2017) Crappie fishing was the Easter egg hunting of my teenage years and each spring when the water thawed, I couldn’t wait to catch the “paper-mouthed poissons.” After my baseball practice and Dad saw his last Saturday patient, we’d jump in the van and speed up to our cabin at […]
(ROCKWALL, TX – March 2, 2017) Reelfoot Lake, in northwest Tennessee, came about by a series of earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, and after the land cracked open, water rushed in from the Mississippi River to an extent that folks in Memphis swore Ole’ Man River ran backwards. While explaining myths to my students, I […]
(ROCKWALL, TX – Feb. 11, 2017) The first time I met my father-in-law he shoveled wet concrete in his back yard. Back then he wasn’t my father-in-law, he was Mr. McGinnis, a hulk of a man, standing 6’3”, boasting forearms the size of hams. I couldn’t help but imagine being shoved feet first into the […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — Dec. 14, 2016) One Christmas several years ago, we were broke. I don’t mean the we-aren’t-going-to-have-as-big-of-Christmas-broke, I mean the complete lack of any money. The no presents, no Santa, no-Christmas-kind-of-broke. I don’t remember the reason whether it was a string of medical bills or a load of untimely repairs; all I remember […]
(ROCKWALL, TX – Sept. 29, 2016) We ended the day around the campfire; the pops and sizzles just have a way of making a great day with my boys even better. It wasn’t a profitable hog hunt, but that didn’t matter. A hot meal and some stories would make things right. Darkness settled in, and […]
(ROCKWALL, TX – Aug. 19, 2016) At the moment of writing this, we are planning a blitzkrieg end-of-summer family trip to the hill country. Our plan is to rise at 4:30 a.m., hit the road at five, devour kolaches in West, TX, then head directly for Enchanted Rock State Park. When we arrive, we’ll hike […]
(ROCKWALL, TX – June 18, 2016) Last year, my daughter’s inaugural camping trip had been cut short by storms and a tent that functioned like a sieve. She’s hoped all year for another shot, so to hear of two nights at Dinosaur Valley State Park elicited cheers. We planned to leave after school on Wednesday, […]
(ROCKWALL, TX – May 6, 2016) Brennen, our 17 year old, scrambles through the house gathering cleaning supplies. “Can I borrow a vehicle? I have a boat to scrub.” He’s only got a small window of time before lacrosse practice. A traffic ticket looms and he doesn’t want to miss practice again to work up […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — May 2, 2016) Brennen, our 17 year old, scrambles through the house gathering cleaning supplies. “Can I borrow a vehicle? I have a boat to scrub.” He’s only got a small window of time before lacrosse practice. A traffic ticket looms and he doesn’t want to miss practice again to work up […]
(ROCKWALL, TX – March 22, 2016) Spring is the season of new life, and for me, last spring that new life took on the form of righting a regret and reliving a memory, and it all happened on a turkey hunt. Turkey hunting in spring may seem odd, for folks often associate turkeys with fall […]