As promised in my earlier blog post about Dr. Gilbert Ratcliff Jr.’s funeral that I attended in Huntington, West Virginia, in the coming days I plan to share photos and details about some of the wonderful people and places I visited during my five-day trip to WV, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. My journey started Thursday, … More Going in reverse: A whirlwind five-day journey ends with a visit with my birth mother’s sweet 91-year-old first cousin

Happy New Year, everyone! We wish you all a healthy, low-stress 2024 filled with memorable events shared with your families and friends. My year is starting out in Louisville, Kentucky, where I’m near the culmination of a five-day journey that began when I flew into Columbus, Ohio last Thursday. This morning I will drive to … More Honoring the legacy of Dr. Gilbert Alonzo Ratcliff Jr., a pediatrician who treated his patients with love and was loved by all

It has become a treasured, tear-inducing holiday tradition for me to listen to my birth mother Betty, whom I sadly never met, beautifully crooning Christmas songs. When I found my three older full siblings in 2005, one of the many early gifts I received in our discovery of one another was hearing Betty’s voice during … More A cherished tradition: Listening to Betty’s beautiful voice on tape as she sings Christmas songs to her children

Someone dearer than dear to me celebrated her 69th birthday Tuesday – the sister I didn’t know I had until June 2005, when I was 44 and she was 50. Teresa (Terry) Ann Workman Zoubovitch has been a loving, understanding, patient, giving, funny, accepting and all-around wonderful Big Sis to me for 18-plus years since … More Happy birthday to the Big Sister who came into my life 18 years ago – we love you so much, Terry!

Thirty-one years ago, on Dec. 20, 1992, this angel on Earth graduated to angel in heaven status when lung cancer took her much too soon at age 71. Driving to North Dallas early Wednesday morning for a doctor’s appointment before work, my birth mother Betty and the anniversary of her passing 13 years before I … More Gone for 31 years this Christmas, Betty inspires thoughts of what life would’ve been like growing up with her

Thursday night at Las Almas Rotas (“The Broken Souls”) in Dallas’ Fair Park area, a bunch of current and former Dallas Morning News journalists gathered to celebrate one of those amazing periodistas. Alfredo “Freddy” Corchado, a remarkable reporter and brilliant storyteller, has covered immigration and U.S.-Mexico issues for The News since 1993. He will soon … More A phrase uttered more than once as we feted remarkable journalist Alfredo ‘Freddy’ Corchado: ‘The end of an era’

We love you, Dr. Gil Ratcliff. The venerable, cherished and revered longtime pediatrician/neonatologist in my birthplace of Huntington, West Virginia, joined his beloved Betsy in heaven on November 11, 2023. Gil put up a valiant fight against PSP, progressive supranuclear palsy, after his diagnosis in 2020. A remarkable man whom I’ve had the supreme honor … More Dr. Gil Ratcliff, a remarkable doctor and gracious and brilliant man, has joined his sweet Betsy in heaven

While waiting at a red light late this afternoon, I got out of the car and gave $20 to a homeless man sitting in the median on Sublett Road at the intersection of U.S. 287 in southwest Arlington not far from our home. A bit later after getting an oil change, I drove past him … More Random acts that help others in honor of a husband and father lost to brain cancer are what #dammkind is all about

Wednesday night while the Texas Rangers were shoving aside the Arizona Diamondbacks to win the first World Series championship in the franchise’s 63 years, I was watching that history unfold with a couple of Rangers diehards I’ve known for eight years. We didn’t finalize our plans until earlier that day, when Milt Collins invited Jeff … More Watching the Rangers earn their first title with friends who love this team like I love the Astros? Another winner

Often when men who leave an indelible mark on this earthly life pass away, people will say, “He was one of the good guys.” It’s an overused expression but generally true. Likewise, it’s often said about guys who are still here: “He’s one of the good guys.” We know there are countless good guys in … More My best friend Doug, who’s been gone for 21 years, wasn’t just ‘one of the good guys.’ He was the best.