“OUCHIE!”

That’s what my little girl says when she hurts herself. Over the years there have been different levels of “OUCHIES!”
Same as our country’s defense has different DEFCON levels; five being peaceful and one being an all out war, “OUCHIES,” come with their own levels of severity. In regards to parenting and childhood, DEFCON five is peaceful and one is an all out panic with frantic screams for 911.

Father’s and mothers have different responses to each DEFCON levels. Often, fathers confuse Continue reading →

Time and size change as they relate to age . . .
In the beginning or early stages of life, everything seems so big and incredible. As a grown man, I stand two inches above my Father’s height, but as a boy, The Old Man was a giant. His hands were large and capable but mine were small and unblemished. They were untrained and untested. If asked, I believed The Old Man was capable of anything. I believed his hands were strong enough to hold the world together. And I thought this because The Old Man held my family’s world together.

In relation to time and size, my early classrooms looked tremendous. Back then, the school year seemed to last forever and the summers were nothing more than a blink of time. But now, months fly off the calendar and years shed regardless to my opinion of the season.
On the playground, the monkey bars, swings, and the slides were all so tall to me. Yet, as a grown man, I have visited some of my old playgrounds.
Some of them look the same, only now, the ladder to the Continue reading →

My earliest memory of fireworks is from a friend’s house in Brentwood, Long Island. More like family, I stayed with a friend that I saw as a brother. I saw his sisters like my own, and I saw their mother and father as I would an aunt and uncle.
It rained in the morning but the afternoon cleared, and by nightfall, the sky was lit with Continue reading →

The Old Man used to work a lot.  I suppose this was his way of controlling the uncontrollable. My Mother used to say, “He works hard so he doesn’t feel old or helpless.” She said, “And the older he gets, or the more helpless he feels; the bigger his projects are.”

My Old Man was always awake before the sunrise. He left for work before I was out of bed in the morning, and he came home after the sun set. I can still recall the scent of hand-cleaner he used at his shop. And though he washed his hands several times before leaving, the filth from machinery was embedded in his fingerprints.

He came home to reheated food because Continue reading →

Watching the sunset from the deck in my backyard, I pat my stomach after a meal and then I exhale the kind of breath that only comes after eating a big dinner.

As I write to you, I sit in my room and on the wall behind me is a certificate signed by the President of The United States of America. Continue reading →

Lying down, my little girl pulled the covers up and held her small stuffed bulldog beneath her chin. She moved over to the side, allowing a spot for me to lie down beside her.
Looking up at me as I tucked her in, my little girl removed her arm from beneath the comforter. She slapped the top of her mattress as if to ask me to stay, and with a bright smile she asked, “Daddy, will you tell me a story?”

This is our time together. In that moment, I am nothing else but a father and there is no one else but us. There is nothing more important than her dimly lit room with pink flowered nightlights, which she selected, and I hung Continue reading →

After years had passed, I drove up to the place where I once lived. It was strange to see how the town has changed. Most of the stores had closed, and though the town always appeared to be outdated, it seemed to have aged even more since I left.
The small soda shop with pristine Continue reading →

As a kid, I used to wonder why The Old Man was always uptight. Of course, I had no idea what it meant to have a bank account, let alone keep money in it. At the time, my high priced ticket items were Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum or a candy bar. At the most, I needed money to play video games or to go to the movies, but that was it. Everything was paid for by The Old Man or through my allowance, which was given to me by my Mother, but first, it was given to her by The Old Man.

As a little boy, I had a Continue reading →

On an early morning at the fifth tee of a nine-hole golf course, I stood, ready to swing my 3-wood across a white golf ball. I took a deep breath, and then I took a practice swing. The morning was gray and the grass was wet from an overnight rain. Spring was underway and the school year was close to an end.

The Old Man stood behind me. “Remember to keep your head down this time.”
With my head slightly tilted and my legs spread at shoulder’s width, I extended  my arms out with the club in hand, and focused on the bottom curve of the golf ball.

The course was quiet. It was early but Continue reading →

These are the mornings I work for. This is why I pull long hours and endure the physical strains on my body. It is an early Sunday morning. The sun has finished its entry and my house is peacefully quiet.
(This is a good thing.)
As I write to you, the main reasons I work Continue reading →