Trading clicks and claps for rods and reels. — The times of my life, marked by love and laughter, are filled with water. These are the places I return to, over and over, sometimes when I can’t sleep, and sometimes when I can. I fish because I have to. …

South Pacific Humanity at the Edge of the World — There is nothing better than Cubans arguing. Through the open west side windows, Rita’s diatribe spills over the yard and onto the beach. The Cubans are passionate, but not malicious. They shriek at each other in Spanglish between longs pulls of Heineken. Rita screams as she bursts out the front…

Addiction made me a better human and a better father — I know it’s there, but like any other fear I’ve pushed down, I keep it on a high shelf, where, unless I put in some effort, it’s hard to get to. I almost cannot think about it, and yet for a time, it was all I thought about. As a…

Or How To Quit Smoking In One Thousand Three Hundred and Twenty Six Easy Steps — Somewhere down the road, somebody got the bright idea to pick some leaves, dry them in sun, chop them up, roll them in another dried leaf, set one end on fire, then suck on the unlit end in hopes of breathing in the smoke. Seems like a good idea, huh? …

Southern Voices — It’s my first memory, the sticky southern sweetness that is my mother’s voice. Her’s was the most prevalent, but they all had it, and there was no one, and I mean no one, within my earshot that didn’t communicate with that ‘most preferred of accents.’ It’s our heritage, and our…

I was happy. High up in the Gore Range, winter had set hard, with plentiful snow, and work. It’s easy during the snow season to find a comfortable rhythm — work, sleep, drink. It’s easy to ride that groove until spring. …

Do you hear what I hear… — There was something to having to wait — waiting to hear it on the radio, waiting until you had the money to buy the album, or waiting until you weren’t grounded so you could do either one of those things. For most of my life, I might go months or…

My wife makes me laugh — Having someone fun to look at is good, but having someone funny is better. Lucky me, I’ve got both. My beautiful wife is educated, and funny, but not necessarily intentionally funny. …

Some words are fun to say