A Life of Words

Just after 7 p.m. Saturday while I was working from home, my dear friend and Dallas Morning News colleague Allison messaged, “OH NO! Chuck will be devastated,” referring to her husband. I didn’t know what she was talking about, but moments later I learned shockingly sad news. Our friend and former DMN colleague Jon Ehret … More A tearful farewell to another good friend and former newspaper colleague taken from us too soon

Brad Paisley, my fellow native West Virginian, put on a spectacular show Saturday night at Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas’ Fair Park, and Kay and I were fortunate enough to be among the thousands of fans in attendance. I won’t say I knew a ton of Brad’s songs going in, but I knew a few. … More An evening with Brad Paisley we’ll never forget

Happy 100th birthday, Betty. I hope you and all of your angel friends — of which I’m sure you have too many to count — are having a grand celebration. It seems unthinkable that the woman who gave birth to me was really born a century ago. But, I do need to come to grips … More Happy 100th to Betty, the mother who gave me up but never stopped loving me

Three siblings and my wife Kay gathered by video call Sunday evening to celebrate a birthday, remembering and sharing memories of a brother who left this world in his 61st year on January 9, 2009. For over 90 minutes while catching up on one another’s lives and families, we spent around 30 reminiscing about Robin, … More Sharing memories by video call while celebrating the birthday of a brother who’s gone but forever in our hearts

Today is a special day for the Christliebs. An anniversary. On June 19, 1996, after about five months of building that seemed more like 15, Kay and I moved into our first house. And 25 years, just one roof replacement, one new AC unit and a slew of new neighbors on both sides of us … More It’s OK to celebrate a silver house anniversary … isn’t it?

I didn’t know these 3 kids when this old B&W photo was taken — I wasn’t born for about another six years. And from the date of my birth, Feb. 28, 1961 — which, amazingly, happened to be the same day the boy on the left turned 17 — I wouldn’t learn these kids even … More 16 years after they came into my life, happy “found ya” day to my three full siblings

While our trip to Globe Life Field today didn’t end the way we’d hoped with an Astros victory over the Rangers, it was cool to see the new indoor (retractable roof) stadium in Arlington for the first time. Kay and I had to leave after the Astros tied it 2-2 in the top of the … More It was a grand day at the Rangers’ new ballpark — maskless! — even though my Astros came up short

Sending all my love and thanks this Mother’s Day to the four moms who have been such an important part of my life, and to all the remarkable mothers the world over who have sacrificed so much for their families. For our Mother’s Day (although I have no photographic evidence because we had to leave … More Wishing love to all the mothers in my world, and the rest of the world, this Mother’s Day

Thirty-eight years ago today, this happened. About a month later — with two years of interviewing and writing about the likes of Jackie Sherrill, Shelby Metcalf, Bear Bryant, Grant Teaff, Gary Kubiak, Eric Dickerson, Akeem Olajuwon and Doug Flutie under my belt while working at Texas A&M’s student newspaper, The Battalion — I started as … More It’s been 38 years to the day, and this Aggie journalism degree has served me well