At the end of a year, I like to look back, count my blessings, and give thanks for whatever the new year may bring. [Read more…]

The holidays are sometimes like a patchwork quilt. We stitch them together from scraps _ pieces of time and memory, imagination and hope _ to form something new from the old. [Read more…]

It’s a long way from South Carolina to Las Vegas. My sister doesn’t get to visit us often. So when I heard she was coming for 10 days, I began to plan. [Read more…]

What is it about Christmas that makes kids try to be “good” and old people act like kids? [Read more…]

I never meant to instigate a fight between my sister and her daughter. Why would I want to do that? Lord knows, when it comes to fighting, they don’t need any help from me. [Read more…]

Traditions are like the people who try to keep them: Sooner or later, like it or not, they change. [Read more…]

A picture, some say, is worth a thousand words. Especially if it is seen through the eyes of love.
Recently, after Clemson lost its first football game of the year, ending any hopes for an undefeated season, I called my brother in South Carolina to offer my condolences.
He didn’t answer. I wasn’t surprised. He probably wasn’t in much of a talking mood.
Joe is totally blind. He has never seen a football. But saying that he loves the Clemson Tigers is like saying God loves sinners. There is no way to explain it. Love is love. It’s just how it is. [Read more…]

If you’d asked me 20 years ago what I’d be doing today, I might have said cruising the Caribbean or greeting at Walmart or getting my knees replaced.
I would not have said, “working on my web site.”
Twenty years ago, when I left my job as a reporter to write a column for syndication, the world was a different place from the one we’ve come to know.
[Read more…]