ROCKWALL, TX – August 24, 2020 —“Scott Gill is speaking? I can’t stand him; he speaks so nasally!” And with that Mrs. Annabelle stormed out of church. She truly hated me, would sometimes come up during the week and chat with the church secretary and ask “Why is he even here?” Years ago I worked […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — May 4, 2020) Alex Messenger stood in front of the grizzly, slowly backing away and speaking in low tones as the bear ran toward him and stopped in false charges. That was Alex’s training, the last thing one should do is run from a 1000-pound predator that can sprint like Usain Bolt. […]
(ROCKWALL, TX – March 15, 2020) Motoring the boat out toward the clump of trees, I was excited about the fishing spot. I knew the area but had not actually fished it. According to my sources, though, we’d haul in some good ones. It would make a huge impression on my buddy and his dad […]
(ROCKWALL, TX – Aug. 31, 2019) Social media rants where folks name and defame. Politicians attack, blame, call out, label, and ostracize. News channels drone everything as a “crisis.” And I could go on and on. I’m guilty, I admit it. I read the rants, I stew over the state of the country, and that news […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — July 1, 2019) I fought off disappointment and my feet ached, but a simple campfire somehow made it better, primitive TV in a sense. I didn’t need its warmth, but I definitely welcomed its comfort. After hiking eight miles and seeing no elk, I definitely needed some form of encouragement. So far, […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — June 14, 2019) Ireland and I watched The Sandlot awhile back which conjured stories of my kid summers. My buddy lived next to an abandoned ball field behind a church. The church still worshipped but the softball team was a relic. It was Sandlot-esque, a large grass and dirt field and a […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — May 14, 2019) Anchored, we fished a tributary of the Mississippi. It was a summer Wednesday and I was on my weekly fishing adventure with Dad. Most of the time we drove into Arkansas and fished a large oxbow lake named appropriately, “Horseshoe,” but this day Dad felt extra adventurous and drove […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — April 11, 2019) I was present when my father-in-law drew his last breaths; it hurt me to watch him go. In the 30 years I’ve loved his daughter, we’ve shared laughs, deep conversations, and some good times fishing. I loved that guy, he was always good to me. Well, after that first […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — March 13, 2019) As the final overtime seconds ticked off and the dreadful buzzer sounded, my team’s basketball season ended. My boys had overcome so much through the season, game after game of last second heartbreaks and the occasional morsel of victory. I named them the “heart attack kids” because after a […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — January 29, 2019) It’s eerie and amazing at the same time and it seems to happen more often in the last few years. Never do I anticipate it, one moment I’m just doing something mundane like washing dishes and I hum a few bars of a song in my head. “I was […]