Twice a year, as a child and a teen, I would wake up and find at least forty dollars on the kitchen counter. The man who left it there, before he went to work, used that cash to encourage his wife and children to buy shirts, underwear and other things for him on his birthday … Continue reading
Look. This a Lunacy. So I need to at least attempt some humor here. I will likely fail. This is really just about a pie safe, though. Bear with me okay? My mom was a Baptist from Burlington, North Carolina. My dad was a Methodist from nearby Graham, a town whose city limit sign is … Continue reading
FROM JULY 22, 2013 I’m a dad, you know. And I’m a granddad. My son had a couple of granddads. Both of them are gone now. They both left way too early to teach my son some of the differing and significant ways for him to truly appreciate the both of them. But they each … Continue reading
FROM JULY 19, 2010 What began as a simple tomato war between brothers decades ago has now come to this. Harassing emails from the son of one of those brothers who rather subtly accused me of neglect. Well, I stood up to that son. “Patience is a virtue,” is what I wrote him … Continue reading
Call me weird. Call me a wimp. But I fear severe weather. I guess my mom had something to do with that, although watching, annually, “Wizard Of Oz” tornadoes for the first twenty years of my life didn’t help! When I was young and when a thunderstorm hit, my mom made us unplug everything electrical … Continue reading
In September of 1996, most of us many inland North Carolina residents prepared to endure the brutal strength of Hurricane Fran. Chapel Hill is not a normal place for a hurricane to visit. But I prepared. Somewhat. I did not fill my bathtub with water. I didn’t buy bottled water. I did not use masking … Continue reading
Mama loves the color purple. She says it’s Jesus’ favorite color. When I first saw that dress, I didn’t even know Jesus had a favorite color. I still have an image of that dress today. It was nothing special, really. Even by June Clever standards. But when I was ten, it was the most beautiful dress I had ever … Continue reading
FROM JUNE 23, 2014 I guess, if we’ve done stuff right, we hold within ourselves meaningful memories. The most meaningful ones come from the folks who have graced our lives over time. I have shared with you many memories that came from folks like that. They were about a grandmother who said to me, “Please … Continue reading
I know what it’s like to be without a father on Father’s Day. In this regard, I have been alone for almost twenty-five years. But before the most important man in my life died, he was there for me. In his own bizarre and fun and wonderfully generous ways. Frankly, I blame that man for … Continue reading
FROM JUNE 15, 2014 I guess one takes from songs what they need to hear. I first heard this one in the early ’90s – maybe ’91 or ’92. It was released in 1991. And what I heard in those lyrics and felt in that tune are likely nothing even close to what the artist intended. But this is … Continue reading
