The Retrospective Writings

On Smoking – Written 7/9/16             My earliest memory on the discovery of smoking was upon visiting my great aunt’s house as a kid. When I asked my father what that horrible smell was, he simply said, “That’s the smell of cancer, son. Cancer and cats.”             “And cancer is bad?” I asked.             “Yes, it’s bad. And cats. It’s caused by smoking on a death stick, of sorts. It kills you. You cough until you die.” As directly as it came, that was the end of it. It’s no wonder why I grew up a dog lover.             It was just a few years later that the anti-tobacco folks showed up at our grade school, throwing pictures of cancerous lungs and gums into our untainted minds, shattering all beliefs that the chain-smoking bad guy in James Bond was cool. Th...

Here's something a little different.. just a little trip down memory lane for me. Enjoy! Freeskate – Written 6/15/16             They sit right where I left them, dustless and in pristine condition, on the third shelf from the bottom on top of the wooden rack in our three-car garage. Right next to the old Tonka truck that didn’t get sold at last year’s yard sale. The price sticker reads ten dollars; I would have said twenty. They sit above the old camping tent that popped a hole two years back, dumbing the night’s contents atop our sleeping heads. It still smells of musty pine. They sit below my brother’s own pair, which he traded way back when for a dream of a new set of wheels that now waits for him out in the driveway—it’s a Honda. They sit there waiting for me as the school week ends and the weekend begins, bringing with it the opportunities of freedoms and adventures yet to come.       ...