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Earlier this week, I had a chance to join my dad for a once-in-a-lifetime occasion. We watched a marine sling lift lower his 19-foot sailboat into the water at Mattapoisett Boatyard to start its fiftieth consecutive season. Climbing aboard, we adjusted a few things, raised sail, pulled the Embarker to the end of the pilings,…
Read MoreThree days before he died, Doug messaged me on Facebook for my birthday: “Burn a candle for me, old man,” he wrote. John Douglas Wright, I’m overdue to light that flame. Gregarious and loved by many, Doug was a light in our lives going back to junior high school, at least. A gifted athlete, he…
Read MoreWhat is this mean streak being unleashed all around us? How do we keep a balance to stay positive and move forward? What are we doing here? Recently, while traveling to Vermont to visit my sister, my wife and I were stuck in traffic for nearly two hours. An empty milk truck had crashed at…
Read MoreTonight Denise and I will spend the last night in our home of nearly a quarter century. We will undoubtedly raise a toast with firelight dancing from our woodstove one last time. A few tears may come. I expect we will sleep soundly with the solace of having put all of ourselves into this expanded…
Read MoreMany of us know the disparity of the holidays too well. In what should be a time of festivity and joy, this season instead doubles down on our pain. The isolation from loss or other upheavals in our lives, such as the distance from estranged family members or friends feels magnified. Especially on this day…
Read MoreRounding nearly three weeks after surgery to remove a cancer-threatened gland, I appreciate what a long haul this is going to be. I must relearn patience to recover. Too often this is merely a fleeting thought. A construct that seems to have been intended for someone else. But it stares me right in the face…
Read More“I’ve got the apolitical blues. And that’s the meanest blues of all.” – Little Feat On Thursday my son Chris will be on a red-eye flight from Oregon in order to be with his dad during surgery the next day. I am having my prostate removed because I have cancer. Thankfully, two malignant lesions appear…
Read MoreJay Winuk has a message for all of us this weekend. Unity. Recognize it. Pause from the negative. Restore it. Winuk, who lives in Mahopac, N.Y., will again remember his brother, Glenn J. Winuk, a volunteer firefighter who died while doing triage in the South Tower at the World Trade Center. He does this in…
Read More“Vulnerability is the key to resilience.” – Mitch Carmody I hope many of you are finding a way to recharge this season, despite the searing heat wave. My wife and I are both former teachers who used the summer months to stretch—and by that I mean both relaxing, and stretching forward. We read great books…
Read MoreFrom the complications of loving you I think there is no end or return. No answer, no coming out of it. — Mary Oliver, “A Pretty Song” Do you ever find yourself wondering how life streams by so fast? Each week we seem to pack more in. Deadlines and commitments never fail to ratchet up.…
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