But they never knew their lives were in danger — The road’s switch-backs resembled a snake climbing a sheer granite cliff face that had ant-sized cars slowly crawling up and down its back. With the children in the car, my thoughts screamed, ‘Are you F’ing kidding me!’ Halfway up, my no-fear five-year-old’s squeaky voice stabbed at my self-confidence. “Hey daddy…

My first step on the stairway down from Heaven — My initial spiral down from heaven started after I attended my only eighth-grade graduation party. The post-graduation summer of 1969 changed my life. I was twelve… mature enough to know, naïve enough to believe, and stupid enough to trust everything I was told. During that summer, my religious beliefs, the…

Don’t ask, you may not like the answer. — It was football Sunday when, at fifteen years old, I first came into contact with the Devil. The Devil? How did I know it was the Devil? It’s not complicated, but requires some eggs-plaining. It happened when the neighborhood group of buddies were hanging out down the street at a…

Where a child’s imagination and reality collide — At twelve years old, a kid can envision himself being anything his imagination can dream up. For years, whenever asked what I’d like to be when I grew up, I’d always say, “I’m gonna be a scientist.” …

It was on a dark foggy San Francisco morning, the last couple hours of a 10-day Alaskan cruise when tragedy struck. Too cliche? But it was dark, it was foggy, and it was the last hours of a cruise. …

Do you really honestly care to know? — I read several stories the other day that tickled my curiosity, each titled, “Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Me!” I had no idea who the authors were, and in all honesty, I’m not even sure why they caught my initial interest, I’m not typically a nosy person. Statistically, there…

Fans, peanuts, popcorn, beer, and life. — Existence is like a baseball game. There are two teams playing: Team Life and Team You. Team Life is the opposing team, has nine players on the field, a dozen more players in the dugout/bull-pin, plus many up-and-coming minor league rookies looking for their big break to get into the…

One simple way to stir memories. — I searched throughout the kitchen, it wasn’t there. My heart pounded, sweat began to bead across my brow, my breathing quickened. Panic was inevitable. Where is it? It has to be here. The well-loved ladle, unpolished and oxidizing, always felt comfortable in hand. Family stories suspected the ancient large spoon…

A humorously embarrassing education — Halloween is intended to be fun and playful, but to some young children, it’s scarier than sitting on a red-suited, bearded, fat man that has millions of little elf spies. The realistic grossness of the holiday has soared to new heights with severed limbs, heads, ungodly evil creatures, scary clowns…