But, whether related to this initial aversion or not, I have always been reluctant to embrace metaphorical fireworks either.  Just something too ephemeral and excessive for my "all things in moderation" view of life. Read More

My mother, of course, overheard this and immediately turned the car around, while explaining to everyone that we were going back to the store and that Johnny (what I was called then) would return the package and apologize to the store manager.  Her voice was controlled, but I knew that she was angrier at me than she had ever been in my life.  The other kids moved away from me as if I and/or the Life Savers carried some highly communicable disease.  Read More

Thus was I presented with the first moral struggle of my marriage, not yet 24 hours into it.  I knew I had a hole in one of my socks.  Read More

Just a great slow dance song, so who was I to complain?  Blessedly, Susan seemed happy to dance it with me, slowly and closely.  And the touch and sweet smell of her still slightly damp hair as she rested her head on my shoulder were intoxicating. I pondered the song's title question as we danced, as well as thinking of another, totally incongruous song title, "I Could Have Danced All Night." Read More

How small?  Well, 2,000 residents at that time - - and, arguably, even more cows and horses.  That said, it was not quite like that proverbial town that was so small that the "Now entering ____" and "Now leaving ___" signs were painted on the opposite sides of the same sign.  Read More

I knew enough about the process to know that, unlike pre-med, there was really no such thing as "pre-law."  In fact, I was amused that the only guys who seemed to label themselves as being "pre-law" were these huge college football players introducing themselves before games on TV. (See illustration in Featured Image.)  I was pretty sure that these guys were more likely to end up as members of the NFL than the ABA. Read More

We quickly realized ,,, that the rules of touch football could easily be adapted to Frisbee, so off we went to our high school football field -- turf none of us had ever set foot on other than those in the marching band -- to play what we called, at the risk of obviousness, Frisbee Football ("FF"). Read More

" [T]he final grades [were to be] based solely on the grades of the papers, but...any student opting for this waiver nonetheless had to show up for the final exam, sign his/her name in a blue book and remain in the exam room for at least half of its 3-hour duration before being allowed to be dismissed.  [The section leader] was apologetic; many of us were apoplectic... Read More

Growing up in the suburbs, getting one's driver's license was perhaps the second most important rite of passage in teenagerdom after puberty itself.  In fact, an argument could be made that, without your license, you might as well not even shave (anywhere).  Read More

My mother had a very privileged upbringing.  As a result, she still believed that families should take "The Grand Tour(s)" of Europe (hereinafter, "TGT") when my brother and I were growing up, even though this was already a bit of an anachronism. Read More