I have a pretty shoddy record when it comes to New Year’s resolutions. What I’m very best at is making them. Last year, I bought a leather-bound notebook with rich-looking silver pages inside. While at Office Depot, I discovered a fountain pen, nestled in silk lining in one …
You know how it feels when you visit friends you haven’t seen for years, and by golly, they look so much different than you remembered? Yet, when you see a friend almost every day, it’s hard to detect how he or she has aged at all. It’s the same with yourself. I don’t notice …
It’s all about the climb. Standing on top of the mountain isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I have over 50 years of corporate mountain climbing to prove it. My most joyous and fulfilling years came when I was struggling, slipping and banging my knees while looking up at some …
Each day I pass an old man with a green duffel bag standing at the corner gas station. He has a torn blanket wrapped around his body because, as Christmas approaches, it’s cold in Carson City. He’s roughly scribbled two signs on brown cardboard which he alternates displaying …
If I had to do life all over again, I’d be an accomplished dancer. I wouldn’t specialize in just one type of dance, I’d be good at them all: ballet, tap, rock, modern, salsa, waltz and hip-hop. Then, at our recent holiday party, when this popular dance band encouraged guests …
My best friend of all times was 30 years older than me. His name was Frank, and he was a mentor to me in so many ways long before the term “life coach” came into popularity. As a current old geezer at 73, I feel a tug of obligation to pass on a trick Frank …
When this aging stops, I’m so darn certain I’m headed to Heaven. Now I need to make a list of what is there waiting for me. It’s got to be good, or it wouldn’t be called Heaven, right? So this is my Heaven list: Caramel Dilly Bars must be available at all hours of the …
I had Uber back in the 1960s. Rather than using a cell phone, I used my thumb and went across the states on many occasions with a wide range of drivers. Not that I recommend hitchhiking to young Americans, but I learned so much going from Chicago to Denver, from Champaign to …
When I was a boy, I thought I was particularly good looking. I blame my mother, who told me I was handsome over and over again. As I entered the real world, it became obvious that my looks, at best, might be considered unnoticeably average. I have old photos to prove how far …
I didn’t get my first massage until I was over 60. I didn’t think the concept of a massage sounded very masculine or comfortable, and I was particularly self-conscious about my feet—my hammer toe, my ugly bunion and my ridiculously high arches. As a birthday gift, my wife …
