Category: Family

I’m a Davidson Man

Duke’s done, but after the requisite 24-hour grieving period, I’ve done switched to another team. I’m now a Davidson Man:

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That’s about how much my bracket is worth after week one: 15 cents

Number One and I visited Davidson’s lovely campus before his senior year of high school, so I feel I can lay somewhat of a claim. Also, I actually saw Stephen Curry’s dad Dell play when I was a grad student at Virginia Tech. That makes me old enough to be Stephen’s father, which, on this Monday morning, is just another depressing thought to contemplate.

Oh well. Go Wildcats!… Read the rest

The Eyeguy Was There

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But he’s not anymore–he’s somewhere else, far, far away. But the Eyefam is still “there.” The story of why they’re still “there” and why I’m “here” is a complex, heartrending saga of trouble in paradise. One that features a stuttering, sputtering Audi A4 with faulty ignition coils, a tense afternoon spent on the phone plotting an escape, and then a mad, moonlit dash into L. A. (Lower Alabama) with a chain-smoking, Diet Coke-swilling insomniac tow truck driver named Keith.

More details to follow.… Read the rest

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo? Raght Thar He Is!

It took some negotiating, and eventually some compromise. Here’s a picture of our Romeo, one that will, in his words, show the world “what a stud” he is:

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And here’s one of him in action, wooing his beloved Juliet:

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For the life of me, I’ve lived in this house almost 13 years and I never realized we had a balcony in our foyer.

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo? As we say in The South, “Raght thar he is!”

… Read the rest

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo? Because He Has To

Today, Number Three Son is going through the same rite of passage that millions of other schoolboys have over the past few centuries. His 9th grade English class is covering Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” and Number Three gets to dress the part and deliver such choice lines as:

“See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!”

As to “Juliet,” well, that’s a sore point. According to Number Three (who has been known to lay it on thick on occasion), he got stuck with the loudest, largest, and most obnoxious girl in the class, which will make his assignment all the more challenging.… Read the rest

15 Years In The Rocket City

src-time-lapse.JPGI’ll be reflecting back on lessons learned over the past 15 years of living in Huntsville in this Sunday’s community column in The Huntsville Times.

We moved here in March 1993, and I’ll admit that it took me some time to get used to the place. We had lived in a “big city” for the previous 7 years (Birmingham and then Nashville), and I often pined for the culture, excitement and choices of a major metropolitan area. But once I settled down and became more rooted in the community, the place sort of started to grow on me. Or maybe I grew into it.… Read the rest

The 12th Man

Number One Son road-tripped to Auburn this past weekend to visit with some friends and to watch the Bama v. Auburn basketball game. The visit with friends went well. The game? Not so much.

Yesterday morning, Number One was driving to church when he stopped at an intersection with a crosswalk. He looked both ways, halfway expecting a herd of cattle to come ambling by about that time. Instead a lone figure in a suit was walking down the sidewalk to his right and starting into the intersection.

Number One stayed stopped and yielded like he was supposed to. He looked down to fiddle with something in the car, and when he looked back up, the man in the suit was directly in front of him and staring straight at him.… Read the rest

An Interesting Turn of Events

Talk about an interesting turn of events.

Yesterday, Eyegal, Number One and I made our way down to our favorite beautiful old downtown church for a Lenten liturgy fix. I had not adhered very well to my promises this year, and I was eager to make amends. Lent, after all, is not merely the stuff that you must brush off your clothes.

The rain poured hard as the service started, and the sound of it pelting furiously against the roof lent an air of drama to the lectionary readings. The music soared, drawing us away from our selfish, petty concerns and upward and outward toward Higher and Holier Things.… Read the rest

I Won’t Forget the Flowers

As promised, here’s the link to my second community column for The Huntsville Times.

And, once again, they left off the first paragraph in the online edition. For the record, here it is:

“Another Valentine’s Day rolls around, and my mind is drawn back to 1976–and Annie. I sang her song, and it didn’t matter that she was John Denver’s wife because it wasn’t really about her.”

I don’t know why they keep leaving off the first paragraph. I’ll have to ask the editor about that. Fortunately, the print edition was fine, and they even used one of the pictures they had taken instead of the first one I sent in, the one Eyegal calls my “terrorist” passport photo.… Read the rest

Scandalous Stuff

Just a reminder for those of you in the Huntsville area, my 2nd Sunday column will appear in the Forum section of The Huntsville Times this week. I’ll post a link to the online edition as soon as it’s available.

This one will contain many embarrassing tidbits from my past (and present), flashes of 1970s nostalgia, sexual innuendo galore, the usual soaring prose laced with biting humor, Eyegal in all her beauty, glorious, never-before-seen metaphors along with a salute (sort of) to a certain upcoming holiday. All kinds of scandalous stuff, really.

Now that I have your attention, I hope you’ll read it.… Read the rest

When Life Imitates Art

The phone rang, per usual, at the start of dinner. Probably just another solicitor, I thought.

But then I saw the caller ID: “Walker, Texas Ranger.” It was a solicitor all right, but it occurred to me that this was one that I had better talk to. Or else.

“Howdy. This is Walker, Texas Ranger. No really, it’s Chuck Norris, just calling to put in a word for my good friend, Mike Huckabee. When you go to the polls on Tuesday, remember, Huck is the only true conservative in the field. So, if you want to protect our country from another Soviet invasion, remember–Vote Mike Huckabee!”… Read the rest

Ro Ride, Ro!

A Monday morning mental health break is in order after a week of edgy, political blogging and a weekend of sad news–that’s the way Meg would have wanted it. Behold, Amazing Gracie the Wonderdog:

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I told you she was Bama Beautiful in that houndstooth collar of hers!

Gracie is shown here firing up a victory stogy after the Tide’s 41-17 thrashing of the Vols last October. Little did she know that would be her last one for the season.

Like many a Bama fan, Gracie was disappointed in our anemic offense and poor quarterback play, and she didn’t touch her food for days after that loss to Lo-Mo.… Read the rest

Roll On, Sweet Meg

meg_ingram.jpgThe Huntsville and University of Alabama communities are saddened this morning at the passing of Meg Ingram. Meg was a nursing major and former Bama cheerleader who fought valiantly and mirthfully against a rare form of brain-stem cancer over the last 2 years. She was an inspiration to her family and legion of friends, among them Number One Son who knew her and her sister Madalyn well.

Before she died she asked two things. First, that everyone ditch the traditional black at her funeral and instead wear her favorite color–pink–or, of course, crimson. I know that that her many friends, even those from Auburn, will gladly oblige.… Read the rest

The Great Need of the Moment

Move over Caroline. Step aside Ted. In what will likely have little to no discernible impact on the 2008 Presidential race whatsoever, it’s time for me to announce my endorsement for President. Operation Obama Bumper is underway:

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Ah, come on, you can’t say you didn’t see it coming, can you? If in two and a half years of blogging I’ve ever given any of you the impression I was a lockstep conservative who always voted Republican, then I apologize for I have completely failed you as a writer. As I’ve indicated before, here and here for instance, I start thinking in the middle and work my way toward the edges pro re nata–as needed.… Read the rest