Thirty years ago, I stumbled upon a 1,000-year-old phrase that shaped my wedding vows--and has helped underwrite my life since.
Category: Formative Memories
Everybody Knows Something You Don’t
Never forget that expertise is a mile deep and an inch wide. You can know almost everything about one subject and still know almost nothing about something else. And everybody you will ever meet knows something you don’t.
“Wonders All the Way Down” – Chapter 2
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was Ikenberry and Milwaukee's Best. It was Shakespeare and hoisting petards. It was finding my "troth" and losing my mom. It still makes me laugh; it still makes me cry.
The Book I’m Writing
I’m working on a book drawn from “Truths and Wonders.” And I'm sharing the first chapter here.
Practice Makes Persons
We humans become what we practice being. My mother taught me this lesson accidentally, by letting me quit piano and take up drums. How does a kid who despised the practice timer become a human metronome? Read on.
Easier Isn’t Better
The better way isn’t the easier one; it’s whichever one leads to greater fulfillment. Even if it includes freezing nights, Grandma’s guilt trips, and a gold 1970 Chevy Nova on a winding West Virginia country road.
Sometimes the Scar Is Worth It
My earliest memory involves a soccer field, a broken beer bottle, and a choice that left a mark—a scar that still reminds me of my father.
When In Doubt, Sing Out
I learned a crucial lesson about kindness and compassion while Christmas caroling in a nursing home in 1983.
Ode to a Woman and a Civil Servant
My mother taught me that to be a decent human you have to despise cruelty. And she was right.
10,000 Miles and One
Reflections on the journey of one man's best friend.
