My preacher friend, Reverend Jay Hatfield, says it was love at first sight. “I met my wife in my backyard,” he teases. It happened like this: Jay’s wife, Cheryl, happened to be with her mother when they stopped by for a visit at the Hatfield’s house. Jay’s mother and Cheryl’s mother were friends. The three …
“I see you’ve got a cabbage plant that’s still hanging in there,” my son, Dave noticed. That was during Christmas break. How that plant had managed to make it through most of December, I don’t know. Then it was late January, and there it was, still alive. It seemed impossible. “Did you know there’s one …
My tutor looked away from the math problem to the sidewalk outside. I squinted, watching boys and girls walking hand in hand. White children were walking next to black children. The tutor made it clear that she did not approve of whites and blacks walking together. Mom had arranged for her, a retired school teacher, …
I made sure I had on my special socks—white with red trim, and my OU sweatshirt, T-shirt, and ball cap. Then, we raised our hands for the kick-off as we chanted “OOOO-U!” My son, Dave, and I are apt to repeat “First-down, first-down, first down,” when OU is in a tight spot on offense, or …
Stepping outside onto our back patio, the frigid early morning air startles me, smacking my cheeks like a trainer popping the face of a prizefighter, making sure the boxer is fully conscious. Moments before I had been inside, listening to the news reports: the murders in San Bernardino, CA., were likely the result of a …