The one thing I really didn’t like about The Walton’s was that Grandma and Grandpa always bickered at each other. Remember her nickname for him, Old Man? There were other things I didn’t like, too, but I still watched the TV series faithfully throughout my entire Generation X...
I pray the Lord to set me free May you never be alone like me. — from Hank Williams Sr. I sit with my father in the dining room at the nursing home. It is lunchtime and every table is filled with quiet people sitting in wheelchairs. Some of them look crazy. Some of them look painfully...
Then my heart it grew ashen and sober As the leaves that were crisped and sere – As the leaves that were withering and sere; And I cried: “It was surely October On this very night of last year That I journeyed – I journeyed down here! – That I brought a dread burden down...
The Kermit Church of the Nazarene, located in a small town in West Texas, closed several years ago. My father pastored there between 1976-78. One night during a revival service, the visiting evangelist’s wife sang a special. She sang in a hilarious nasal falsetto and I could not contain my...
When the whistle caught the night And shook silence from my life As the last train rolled toward the moon… –From Dennis DeYoung and Desert Moon When I was 14, too old to play dolls and too young for old people to realize it, I walked from my house in Southeast Kansas to Zula’s...
Do you recall the short little man in the Dunkin Donuts commercials, the one who got up before dawn every morning to make the donuts? In a zombie-like state, he’d repeat over and over, “It’s time to make the donuts.” In one commercial, he runs into himself, only to hear, “I already made the...
Anchors Aweigh, my boys Anchors Aweigh –From the song of the United States Navy On Saturday, I visited my father at the nursing home. When he saw me, he called me Becky, and when I told him I wasn’t Becky, he called me Willinda, and when I told him I wasn’t Willinda he said,...
A couple of weeks ago, I was pushing a cart down the aisle of a thrift store. To my left was a rack filled with dozens of linens, blankets, and drapes and to my right were shelves full of toys and stuffed animals. And just there in the middle of that stupid aisle, I was sucker-punched by a teddy...
Jen Lancaster, 41, the popular novelist and writer of the blog Jennsylvania has published a new novel, Pretty in Plaid. (Think spoof on the popular Generation X film of a similar title, Pretty in Pink.) Given the fact 10-year-old Jen gets bullied on the bus by two popular girls, I might have to...
My father pastored small churches across the south central plains of America. Sunday mornings were his time to shine. I watched him get ready like some little girls watch their mothers. He’d shine his shoes, and sometimes, mine. He’d shave and trim his mustache. Then he’d iron...
Guest Post by Wild Billy Elliott It was 1966, and my Dad had a gold 1958 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 Sedan. It was a Chromes-mobile to be sure, with wild tail lights that looked like chrome-plated rockets shooting out from the rear of the car.I was four in ‘66, and stood just below eye level with those...
Guest post by Billy Elliott | Used Car Stories Did I ever tell you about how dad used to get us tires for the Oldsmobile? Behind the tire store, they put the old worn tires that were “take offs”, cast aside after people bought NEW ones. Well, Dad and I would go there at night after...
[…] with minimal disruption, echoing the parenting attitudes of previous generations, such as the latchkey kids of the 70s and 80s. This…
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Hello, Jill! It's so nice to receive a message from a majorette. No doubt, it was a grand experience for…
I was the majorette at my Catholic high school (William V. Fisher Catholic) in Central Ohio. Fall 1993-97! Loving these…
Thank you so much. This post was one of the hardest I ever wrote because the trip was difficult. I…