If you can’t laugh at yourself . . .

The saying goes, “If you can’t laugh at yourself, then who can you laugh at?”
I laugh at the fact the sex business is a multi-billion dollar industry, but yet nearly every man lies whenever a woman asks, “Have you ever been with a prostitute?” or “Have you ever paid for sex?”
(Sorry guys, but you know it’s the truth)

When I was somewhere around the age of 20, a friend of mine told me about a happy accident he had in the back room of a small nail salon. I call this a happy accident instead of a happy ending because Continue reading

Note From a Dad

There are things in this world that will bring a man to his knees. To begin with, the obvious is when a man sees a girl for the first time. He feels an unfamiliar and uncontrollable emotion. Equally as intense as it is unexpected, love comes without warning and everything automatically changes. Life looks different. Love comes along and suddenly, the moonlight from a full moon and the colors of sunrise are seen in an entirely new way. Continue reading

From Sessions From the Balcony: A Love Piece

She lay back on the bed above the covers and comforter with the side of her face pressed gently on the fluffed pillows. Her knees were slightly curled and both of her hands pressed together and placed between her knees. Her loosely fit pajama pants were light blue and her t-shirt was white. Her long blonde hair was brushed straight and dried after an earlier shower. Her eyes glistened and her ivory Continue reading

Junk Dreams

There are places I see in my dreams; places like my first bedroom when I was an infant and living in a duplex apartment off Queens Boulevard. I can see it all very clearly. My point of view is from the inside of my white crib. The room is the kind of dim that comes when a baby is placed down for an afternoon nap.
I notice the light blue walls with scribbles of crayons drawn in large circles next to the light switch. And though I have no memory if this, my Mother once told me I used to draw on the walls, which is why they used to take my crayons away from me when I was in my bedroom.
I see this place in my dreams sometimes. The white door that leads out into to corridor is slightly opened. I suppose Continue reading

No Apologies

This is a story about the beginning of my journey . . .
I knew a woman who as a little girl was afraid to come outside and play. She was afraid of making too much noise or causing too much attention and disturbing an angry drunken father.
She told me how she learned to play quietly at a very young age. She use to play in places like her bedroom closet Continue reading

People, Places, and Things

One of the first things they told me is to watch out for people, places, and things. At first, I resisted this idea. Perhaps I resisted most because this was something I wanted to give up least.
People, places, and things referred to more than just my old friends or my old stomping grounds, which is where we did the things we did.
People, places, and things meant that I needed to pick my surroundings carefully. This meant I needed to carefully choose who I spent time with. I needed to be mindful of my behavior because above all, these three things are what easily lead back to the path I was removed from. And had I not been removed from my environment, or had I been given the choice of where to go or who Continue reading

Why I walk in the mornings

It is beautiful this way . . .
The streets I mean—all wet from last night’s rain. The double yellow line that runs down the center of the road seems to glow a little beneath a dull colored morning. The sky is covered in a blanket of light gray clouds. This is the kind of gray that matches a long beard on a puppet I once saw as a young boy.
Although it is summertime and the heat has been as thick and the air is as humid as a wet blanket; I bundle up in cold weather clothes. The weather is muggy and warm but there is a purpose for my heavy clothing.

After an early rise, I put on a t-shirt, a thermal shirt beneath a hooded sweatshirt with another hooded Continue reading

Monday, July 04, 2016

It is early here on my side of the mountain. The sky is a clear blue with only traces of color left behind from the early sunrise. From my view, I can see the sun filter through the tall trees that stand behind Old Wesley Chapel.
This chapel is very much a part of our history. The oldest grave planted in the small cemetery aside the old church that remains standing as it was is dated back to 1803. The Church remains because it is to remind us of our history.

Continue reading