My writing has taken a back seat to some other stuff lately.  It's important stuff.  And it's good.  It's just that it has all taken time away from the Lunar and other writing.  I will return to it soon, though.

But this Lunar isn't about my writing.  It's about the powerful words of a long-time and dear friend of mine.  He found time to follow his passion, and to see it through.  His message is as powerful as his words, and the differences that he makes on the pages of his new book are as striking as the bonds of family that he carries in his heart every day.

The title of his new book is the same as the title of his three-year-old blog, “Journey With Julian.”  There has been link to “Julian” on the Lunar for years.  Well here is the link to his book on the Simon & Schuster website: JOURNEY WITH JULIAN - BY DWAYNE BALLEN

The book is about Julian, Dwayne's teenage son, and how Dwayne and his wife and their other young son deal with the problems and the joys and the angst and the love found in the daily life of a kid with autism.  

Check it out, okay?  You will surely be as impressed as I have always been with this man and his family.  

Oh yeah.  Some other important stuff.  Dwayne will be appearing in a segment of tomorrow's "Katie" show (Thursday, May 19).  It's a show about autism.  Check that out, too!

And please share this.  Dwayne's insight on autism and family will be helpful to some folks.

Breaking news from Chapel Hill! A major local protest broke out February 15 on MLK Boulevard near downtown Chapel Hill. The only seven men who still play hand ball in town gathered outside the local YMCA to protest the Y's decision to close the handball courts. Police were not called in.

I love that town. I went to school there – at The University of North Carolina. After I finished my education, I moved back home to Jacksonville, Florida. I found work in my field of ...

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Pride takes many forms, I suppose. And its existence follows many twists and turns. When a sense of pride can evolve from a bald face lie presented within easy earshot of a man's adult son, the dad's student of morality for 28 years, well I'd say that is a twist and a turn.

This is not a funny Lunar. It is not a sad one, either. Unless one feels that a dad lying to someone in need while his son is standing there with him is either ...

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Pride takes many forms, I suppose. And its existence follows many twists and turns. When a sense of pride can evolve from a bald face lie presented within easy earshot of a man's adult son, the dad's student of morality for 28 years, well I'd say that is a twist and a turn.

This is not a funny Lunar. It is not a sad one, either. Unless one feels that a dad lying to someone in need while his son is standing there with him is either ...

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A good friend of mine writes political columns online and elsewhere. I think the world of this man and of what he writes, but I think he is missing the boat here. Terribly.

Recently, he wrote about the lifting of the ban of female soldiers fighting on the front lines of combat. He's against it. He wrote:

“...Kill the enemy... Overpower, obliterate, fearlessly, physically, psychologically. Why would anyone assume that the average ...

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My first time was in my brother's bedroom. I was about the age my oldest grandson is today. Maybe a little younger. Maybe a bit older. But, like Sy, I was around 5 years old.

My brother spread and rounded a metal coat hanger, then hooked it over his bedroom door and leveled it so that the metallic hoop was parallel to the floor. He wadded up his socks like a ball. I don't recall if they were clean ones or ones he just pulled off ...

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(Look, my parents loved me. I know that. Maybe they didn't always do their best. But when they did, in my eyes anyway, they did better than most.

This isn't really even about my folks. It's about all moms and dads. And the incredibly selfish notions of some as to how best raise and “protect” their children. Like many parents today, mine, too, were very selfish. At least too selfish to ever really understand how their self-absorbed lives and the ways ...

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It seems I have a couple of months on my hands. And during this time, I think that I am going to take the advice of some readers of The Lunar Report. Or at least begin what they have advised.

Some of you lunatics actually want me to write a book. Well, I don't want to go blindly into this. So, I am asking for your participation just a bit.

This undertaking scares me. I have enjoyed writing Lunars the past few years. ...

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NOTE: This was one of my first Lunar Reports. It was posted on December 21, 2009. My mom is no longer alive. But it still says what I want it to say. Merry Christmas to you all.

“CHRISTMAS”

Actually - I really don’t care too much for Christmas. I guess I did as a kid. In fact, I’m sure I did. You know. Running into the living room to see if Santa brought what I had asked for. He always did.
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I heard the news. I watched the television reports. I scrolled Facebook.

Folks are hurting. In Connecticut and all over. Facebook folks are talking about broken hearts and loving their own children and blaming the NRA and the lack of prayer in schools and such as that. Presidents are shedding tears.

For the past two weeks, I've written about children. This week, I thought I'd give that topic a rest. Then last Friday happened.

Walter. He is now a dad himself. But years ago, he was one of my favorite of my son's ...

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