“How long did you say you are you going to be home?” That was my dad’s question to me, Christmas holidays, 1975-76. I had set my shaving kit in the small bathroom I had shared with Dad for years. Then, I moved his shaving cream, after-shave lotion, and cologne to the side so I could …
A very telling scene occurs in the movie, Promised Land—the film about two corporate salespeople, Steve Butler (Matt Damon) and Sue Thomason (Frances McDermond) who visit a rural town in an attempt to buy drilling rights from the local residents. The two represent an energy company specializing in obtaining natural gas through a process known as fracking, …
They let her know he wasn’t her “real” dad when she was a little girl. It stung, at least for a while. “I always thought I was my daddy’s ‘real’ little girl. I guess I was afraid that might change.” But it didn’t. Not even for a moment. This dad—legally her stepdad until he adopted …
Standing fully in the present moment, there are times when you can touch the past and the future, all at once and at the same time. You can even feel eternity sliding through your fingers. And sometimes it happens through someone else’s eyes. I see my mama’s eyes in a black and white photo of …
You can often see it in their eyes, if you take the time to look: That far away gaze tells you they are somewhere else—maybe in the future or the past but not the present. Or sometimes their eyes dart this way and that, like those of a trapped animal searching for an escape route. …