Tag: pain

  • Captured: Contemplating the abandoned National Road

    I can hardly believe that my old friend Michael and I made this trip nine years ago along the abandoned National Road (US 40) in Illinois. I wrote about the trip on my old static-HTML site here. It looks like I won’t get any road trips in this summer. I sometimes feel a little bummed about…

  • The Christmas bellwether

    This is the third in a short series of stories from 10 years ago. A sad story for Christmas Eve, but with a hopeful ending. Just one more story to go after this, next week. It seemed like a good idea at the time, having Christmas as a family. It was our last. I couldn’t see,…

  • Three hundred square feet

    This is the second in a short series about the most difficult time of my life, ten years ago right now. I told this story once before, in November of 2009, but rewrote it for today. She wanted me out, just for a month, just to clear our heads. Ten days later, the double-cross: don’t come back.…

  • Not-so-instant gratification

    Life deals serious difficulties to everyone, I think. Losing a child, chronic illness or pain, injustice, infidelity, loneliness, addiction, and divorce – expect slow and painful recovery from such things. I’ve had plenty of serious difficulties in the past several years. I’m recovering, but the path has been crooked – after a few good days,…