Under a pile of blankets, Annie and Emma, dressed in their soft flannel pink and green polka dot pajamas, were snug in their bed. All I could see were their smiling faces. On the other side of the bedroom window, a nippy 29 degree night.
“Tell us a story, Daddy! Tell us a real one about you when you were […]

While it may be impossible for anyone under age 25 to comprehend, once upon a time there was no Internet. The phrase, “I’ll just buy it online” would have been as nonsensical as “I’ll just buy it on triangle.” Today’s tech savvy kids send their parents an email, complete with hyperlinks to websites with the lowest […]

A couple years ago I was working in the Team Shop during a Phoenix Suns game. During the halftime rush I saw an elderly gentleman looking at my name badge.
“Hi there, Todd! How’s it going?”
“Great! How’s it going for you?”
“Fantastic! I’m 87 years old and I love my job!”
“Your job?”
“Yep. I’m 87, I’m a commercial realtor and I love […]

Heading for the check out lane at Fry’s Food and Drug tonight I glanced at a display rack of DVD’s.
“All Movies $9.99″.
On the top row in the middle was “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, an epic film from 1965 about the life of Jesus Christ. From His miraculous virgin birth to His sacrificial death on the cross, and […]

Take an evening stroll around the neighborhood this month and you’ll see a variety of nativity sets. Some are wood. Some are cardboard cut outs. Some are hollow painted plastic with light bulbs inside. Wherever you live, nativity sets all have the same figures. Mary and Joseph. Shepherds and wise men. Some animals. And of […]

You heard the phrase more than once during the Christmas season. “Let’s wait till after the first of the year.” You may have heard it from me. I said it quite a bit.
“After the first of the year.” During the frenetic Christmas holiday we speak of early January as though it were a wide open, […]

Here in the Phoenix valley, conveniences abound. Drive three minutes in any direction from my house and you’ll find a Target, Wal-Mart, Costco, Home Depot, Discount Tire, and numerous large grocery stores. Not to mention the endless strip malls full of specialty shops. Anyone need to refurbish a Ford Mustang? Buy a dune buggy? Just […]

Annie and Emma unbuckled their seat belts and tried to be the first to sit next to me. It was time for our “pre-preschool” parking lot conversation. We had been talking about Christmas on the drive over and they were offering some final thoughts. Annie squeezed her tush between the seats, sat down and said, […]

They sat side by side in the passenger area of Gate 25, Terminal 3 at Sky Harbor. If it’s true that people married to one another for a long time eventually begin to look alike, then this seventy something couple have flown together for many years.
Surrounded by appropriately noisy young families juggling kid packs, baby […]

They played quietly by the couch, behind their Aunt Cora’s large black antique trunk that serves as a coffee table in the living room. On the other side of the trunk, Christmas chaos. There were 22 people in the house this holiday night. Children made up 50% of that number and accounted for 96% of […]

“Are you finding everything ok?”
The 20-something brother and sister were looking through a stack of Phoenix Suns shirts.
“Who knows? We’re buying for our mother. She’s really picky.”
“Don’t you have the “it’s from my daughter, I’m sure whatever it is I’ll love it” thing going for you?”
“You don’t know our mother.”
“So it’s more like, “You’re my […]

When we first moved from Iowa to the Phoenix valley, we noticed the centerpiece of our neighbor’s landscaped yard was a red plastic snow shovel buried upside down with “RIP” painted across the scoop. We soon discovered our neighbor’s sentiment was shared by many, if not most, of the folks who live in the Arizona […]