My cousin got married last night. She is the first among my generation to get married, so this is the first time in over a decade that this branch of the family has been all in one place. Right now many of the people I care most about are recovering…
Quality Time with My Grandparents: An Audiotape to Remember
This was a day I won’t forget. I won’t let myself forget it. Here is how quality time with my grandparents unfolded one afternoon. I was in college at the time and assigned a project to record the childhood of someone important to me. I chose my grandma, who I knew…
Want to remember more stuff?
Sometimes, we cannot recall things which we want to recall, and we cannot see a full picture due to missing details. We are afraid to make a decision since we don’t know the outcome, and all this leads to mistakes that we prefer to avoid. It would be great if…
Choosing
This month marks the seventh anniversary of finding out I had multiple sclerosis. I was stunned. Irrationally, I was certain that I had already been through enough hard stuff, so I shouldn’t have to deal with any more. I lost an eye in a childhood accident. I was widowed at…
Marriage Identity
When we were planning our wedding, Jamie and I talked about names. I started from the assumption that she would be taking mine; she started from the assumption that we would make that decision together. So I told her that I had always believed my wife would take my name, that…
Harsh, But Something to Think About
I am not asking my question rhetorically. My sister-in-law is a nurse at a hospital. This was the topic of discussion recently. A “code” is an emergency that sends a large team of doctors, nurses, technicians and others to a patient who is unresponsive, not breathing, or pulseless. It is…
A little message about Meat
I find I have a few things I often admonish people about, and I’ll share one now. On the weekends, run a small take-out BBQ. This particular job involves lots of prep work and any needed welding and fabrication to keep things in good shape. Now, as stated before, my intention…
It was almost his last…
A close friend of mine this week had a heart attack. He’s 21. By a miracle, someone was close by who administered CPR, and he’s undergone cold therapy, and there appears to be no neurological damage. He’s awake and lucid, though he doesn’t remember that we had dinner together a…
Dream Bigger
Have the courage of doing what you really love even if you are afraid, just do it! After 4 years of studying Medicine, just because my family told me to do it, I quit and decided to study Industrial Design. It was the career I’ve always wanted to do but…
Thanks to a Stranger
When I was a young boy my parents took my brother and I on a trip to Sydney. We went to the Zoo, and the Powerhouse Museum (absolutely fantastic for a young kid into technology and science like I was and am), and many many other places. Most importantly, we…