What a Long Strange Week It’s Been
I got on a plane to Durango, CO at the beginning of March, ready for a two week work-related stay at one of my favorite towns on the planet. When I was walking through Terminal A at Denver International Airport to get on that flight, I remember passing more...
Ruminations on Puritan Traditions and (the Corleone) Family
When I am traveling for work, I have a routine I follow when I get to my hotel room after a day spent at a client site. First, I text Basil to let him know I made it to the hotel. If it is the first day of my...
Meet The Parents
“What’s your dad’s name again?” I ask Basil. We were driving down Broadway yesterday in Denver, on our way to run errands. It was a sunny 70 degree afternoon, but with freezing rain and snow forecast for the next several days thereafter, we were focused on getting some things...
Some Sign
“You aren’t going to let some sign tell you what to do, are you?” I would like to etch these words on my mother’s tombstone. I have believed for many years she will never die, and so far she has borne this prophecy out. I have been to the...
Waking Up
I used to wake up screaming. I used to wake up screaming in one of the bedrooms of the Craftsman bungalow I rented with two of my best friends in Pasadena, California. It was always the middle of the night—I can’t imagine waking up screaming when it is daylight...
Six Feet Under
I cannot say how often I would talk to dead people if I had never seen the show Six Feet Under. But I have seen the show and so the bell cannot be unrung. Let me be clear: I did not see my first episode of Six Feet Under and immediately...
As Good as a Fire
We have officially been in our new place in Denver for about two weeks. The moving truck we hired to cart our stuff from Columbus to Denver is still en route, so we have been living with essential furniture (a bed, some chairs, an amazing leather sectional Basil won...
The Pasta Pirate
I was ten years old and on a business trip with my mother in Las Vegas when she took me to the Pasta Pirate at the California Hotel and Casino. Decades before Vegas would shake off dark wood and dimly-lit dining areas to lure millennials with open-concept Cristal-clear 24...
4 – Basil
Today is the 4 year anniversary of my first date with Basil. When we were texting about the anniversary yesterday, he wrote to me: “I knew when I met you that you could accomplish anything you want.” When I met Basil, I was not very good at believing in...
My Hometown?
“Everybody has a love/hate relationship with their hometown . . . I am Mr. Born to Run. I am Mr. Thunder-fucking-road. I was born to run, not to stay. My home, New Jersey, it’s a death trap. It’s a suicide rap. Listen to the lyrics! I gotta get out,...