Category: Americana
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Grace for the Grieving – What to Say at a Funeral Home and a Few Things Not to
Let’s take a vote. A show of hands please of how many people look forward to visiting a funeral home? Nobody? Thought so. You are not alone. Visiting a funeral home ranks right up there with root canals and eating fruitcake. Face it. You never know what to say. You are not sure how long…
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October – A Time to Stop Bungee Jumping
I have mixed emotions about October. There is much to love in this first full month of Fall. Autumn’s beauty bursting forth, summer’s heat waves cooled by northerly breezes, Fall Festivals abound, the World Series caps a long baseball season, college football is in full swing, and stores are full of Halloween candy, costumes and the…
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Potty Talk
Over the past year, I have grown weary of hearing politicians, on both sides of the aisle, spew forth mean and vile language that has no place in the public discourse. Their angry rhetoric reminds me of two kids fighting in a mud puddle. Everyone gets dirty. Is anyone else tired of all this potty…
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Quenching the Flames of Resentment
I believe in absolute truths. When my oldest son was nine years old, he thought he would play Superman and jump off the roof of our garden shed. Halfway way down, he suddenly realized he was about to give a personal, painful demonstration of the law of gravity. Just as there are physical principles that…
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Drinking from My Saucer
It was January 1969, and I had started dating the teenage girl who would eventually become my wife. That year found me hanging around the Smith household many evenings, weekends, and just as often as Mom and Pop Smith would allow this lovestruck teenager to linger. My future mother-in-law often enjoyed a cup of coffee…
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In Defense of Four-Letter Words
Four-letter words have a bad rap. A synonym for cussing for as long as I can remember, speaking one of these bawdry four-letter words in my youth always resulted in a certain mouth being washed out with a bar of soap. It is only a wicked coincidence that the word “soap” also possesses a mere…
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The Dignity of Work – Part III The Power of Appreciation
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” Max DePree, American Businessman. “The number one factor in job satisfaction is not the amount of pay but whether or not the individual feels appreciated and valued for the work they…
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The Dignity of Work – Part II Finding Joy in Work or Why My Wife Wanted to Be a Garbage Man
Mark Twain is said to have quipped, “Find a job you enjoy doing and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” Few would argue with the premise of that statement. Most of us would also agree that finding a job you love to do is not always easy. What about those jobs…
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The Dignity of Work and the Indignity of Job-Shaming
Every time I hear any discussion about the dignity of work, I think of the movie “The Legend of Bagger Vance.” Set in Depression-era Georgia, the story is about a Savannah man named Hardy reflecting on his love of golf, as he flashes back to a game of golf played in his youth between Bobby…
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The Cha-Ching of Coffee
Newsflash! There is growing evidence that the way to a woman’s heart is through her coffee cup. Yep, I think I have stumbled across a previously unknown factor in the male-female dynamic. A new axiom that will forever change the way marriage counselors ply their trade. Henceforth, husbands will be told in no uncertain terms……..”There…
