A Life of Words

I learned heartbreaking news today (Friday, Oct. 23): My longtime friend and former newspaper colleague Tracy Cowle, whom I’ve known for more than 40 years, passed away a month ago in his sleep while visiting his mother in Arizona. He was only 65, far too soon for someone of Tracy’s vitality, enthusiasm and energy to … More Losing another friend I’ve worked with at every newspaper stop in my long career comes as a heartbreaking shock

From the time I was 5 years old until I was 10 – that would be first grade until halfway through sixth – my brother Isaac and I attended a private Lutheran school on the outskirts of downtown Houston. And St. Matthew Lutheran Church celebrates 100 years this Sunday, which is a pretty amazing feat … More As a church celebrates 100 years, some of the schoolkids who were there along the way gather to help celebrate

My beautiful birth mother Betty celebrated a birthday in heaven this past week – her 105th! With her remarkable gifts as a vocalist, I have no doubt she spent part of the day doing what I’ve learned from the full siblings I found in 2005 that she loved doing – singing. But Betty probably does … More As Betty marks another birthday in heaven – No. 105 – we celebrate with her, sending overflowing buckets of love

So … I’m going to Denver on Wednesday. More specifically, I’m going to a wedding Thursday. My great-niece Sydney James, the amazing granddaughter of my big brother Crys, the oldest of my 3 birth family siblings, is marrying her longtime beau Jacob. And my getup in this photo is what I’ll be wearing to the … More A steampunk wedding (I now know what that is) and a calf injury that, thankfully, won’t keep me from making the trip

Although I grew up playing the clarinet and picked up the piano in my late 40s, I never learned to play the guitar – a regrettable choice, I’m thinking, although I realize it’s not too late. Such a beautiful, soulful instrument in the right hands. I wouldn’t have been a rocker and probably would’ve stuck … More A classical brother who loves classical guitar — actually, guitar of any kind — and a masterpiece that brings chills