Tag: growing up
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A Farewell Letter To Jimmy
Hey, Jimmy…I can’t bring myself to call you James. For most of my life you’ve been Jimmy, so there it is. Mariam and I were in Burlington just this past weekend. As I wandered up and down Church Street I kept wondering where the restaurant was that we met for the first time in over…
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It Was 28 Years Ago Today: Changing Views
I saw him when he was born. I watched and began to wonder…even back then. I thought about what I had seen. I went to the Delivery Room window, looked out over the parking lot… and wept. Taken in the long view of human life, I had just witnessed something most men have been kept…
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The Empty Bedroom
This was once my bedroom. There was a time when this room was packed full of the stuff of life… From a crib made in the mid-1940’s, I would look out at the flowered wallpaper. Maybe a mobile hung just out of my reach, and moved about when a breeze caught it from a partly…
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Yes, But Why Can’t You Go Home Again?
It’s a cliché. It’s a meme. It’s been repeated a hundred billion times by three hundred billion people. “You can’t go home again” I’ve read Thomas Wolfe’s book by the same name. It was a long time ago. I may be wrong (correct me if I am), but I do not recall Wolfe ever saying…
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Two-Tree Island (How Do I Live Without You?)
The physical geography of the place can be hard to describe. One has to see it from the air…from the height of a soaring hawk or eagle, or, better yet, from the seat of a kayak or canoe. But one can get lost in the words…just as easily as one can get lost in the…
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Where are the Corn Girls of Summer?
In northern New York State, in late summer, hot sunny days are not uncommon. It was the height of the corn season. I practically left skid marks on Rte. 37 when I saw the corn stand to my right. I had once been scolded by the robotic female voice on my GPS about making illegal…
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Two Elderly Gentlemen Walk Into A Pub
An older man walked into a pub in Burlington, Vermont on a recent Saturday afternoon. It was minutes away from a heavy rain. The guy went downstairs to the men’s room. He was there at the pub to meet an old friend and he was about two minutes late. As he climbed the stairs,…
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The Stranger at the Other End of Front Street
I can feel the soft cool breeze blowing through my room from the Susquehanna River behind me. I am sitting at a small desk writing this post. My wife is sleeping deeply on the bed to my right. I am facing Front Street. The trucks speed past the town on the Southern Tier Expressway (Future…
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The Moonflower
The heavenly fragrance of moon flower permeates the air in the whole garden. –The Flower Expert website In the summer of 1965 I was busy preparing to leave my home, family and friends and go off to college. Actually, only part of what I just said is true. I was going away to college, that’s…
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The Clock On The Wall: A Play In Eight Acts
Act 1: Sitting at an IBM workbench. I knew the call would come soon. I was soldering diodes onto a computer chip. The resin smoked. The phone rang in my manager’s office. Go home to your wife, he said, she called and said it’s time. I pass by the electronic parts window. A guy says…
patrickjegan 