Defenseless?

Image titled “I want my mommy” by anyjazz65

My wife Carol has an amazing affinity for animals of all kinds.  Our house is a virtual Noah’s ark of pets, including dogs, cats, birds, fish, and other assorted, furry varmints.  Each pet enjoys Carol’s special blend of care and attention.  She has a natural ability to communicate [...]

Stories From Unemployment – 4

Earlier this week, I heard a news report stating the last time the national unemployment rate was this bad was back in the early 1980’s.  I graduated from college in 1983, at the height of the Reagan recession.  I had no interest in pursuing a graduate degree, and there were very few recruiters who visited [...]

Lost In The Woods

It was Easter Sunday, 2005, and I was excited about going to church.  This was going to be my first Easter church service since reclaiming my faith.  I had been raised a Christian, but had stopped practicing my faith just as soon as I went off to college.  I lived for many years thinking that I [...]

Friends

It’s Friday morning here in China and we’re nearly half-way through our trip already.  It’s true what Gretchen Rubin noted in her one minute movie, “The days are long, but the years are short.”
Yesterday we visited a long-time supplier (at least for China) in their new factory in Jiangmen.  My friend KM works for this [...]

The Rainbow Shield

It was August of 2006 and we were flying over Illinois in a brand new Boeing 777.  I was in a window seat with a view of the port engine that was mounted under the plane’s wing.  It was overcast below us, the cloud tops forming a smooth, white carpet as far as the eye could see.  The [...]

A Zen Moment In The Men’s Room

Life has many lessons to teach me, and lately I’ve been finding that school is always in session, often in unlikely places.  For example, I recently travelled to a supplier’s factory to review a production run of parts they were making for our company.  Prior to heading into the factory, our hosts asked if I’d care to [...]

We’re Going Home

It was late May, 1982 and I was sitting on a wooden bench at a roadside bus stop in a small Italian town.  In my mind, the Beatles’ song “Two Of Us” was playing on repeat loop as I silently watched the traffic lurch and weave, honk and gesture in that aggressive way Italian drivers [...]