RECORDING MOMENTS IN TIME

I’ve given up giving advice. I’ll give an opinion with the following disclaimer: at best the results are 50-50; you will agree or disagree, it will be right or it will be wrong, you will follow it or you will ignore it. Let me share my grandparents (Thomas) and parents’ advice until they didn’t. Proverbs 22:6 “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” Any questions? I have some. Proverbs 13:24 “Those who spares the rod hate their children, but thos

Closing my eyes, breathing slowly, I can see snapshot pictures I reach for and wonder: Was that it? My life? In elementary school, break-time meant a container of milk and half a graham cracker. I would carefully nibble the edges, shaping it into a gun. Other times I arrived late to class after lunch, having stayed on the playground simply to enjoy the solitude. In junior high, lunch was the best part of the day: an open-faced roast beef sandwich, mashed potatoes smothered in

Could it be true? Mom told me repeatedly that I had a twin! I always thought she was teasing. Fact or fiction? Mom had two boy’s names picked out, Michael and Kenneth. I’ve never found another lefty in the family tree. I did not have the ‘traditional side part’. I always felt out of step, even convinced I was the ‘black sheep of the family’. I’ve a polythelia. (only happens 6% of the time). I now believe I ‘ate my twin’ or absorbed my twin. It has a name. ‘Vanishing Twin Synd

A drop of water… alone one piece of tape, lacking its adhesive. A dress once red, now faded with age. Three cardboard boxes once corrugated uniformly, now crinkled into a mass of substance. Harmony that use to be there replace by... revolution. This is the absence of everything simple and happiness. This is the death of love, peace, and anything beautiful. Written by Norma Wellman, 1970, Tucson, Arizona.

In the beginning, in a city back east, Southport, New York, watching a hobo push his cart past our house, I thought, I could do that . An independent business owner avoiding people. Outstanding job for an introvert. Considering the pros and con aspects decided I would prefer… … a job as a mattress tester. I possessed the skills required, I can to that . No college or high school degree is required. Paid to sleep, then maybe prepare a review. Meanwhile, avoiding people. Pay an

A school day. We drop our children off to be with their friends, confident they are safe while attending classes. Returning home, we began our weekend chores. Until. We hear planes approaching, then the sound we fear the most: exploding bombs dropped by the unseen . We run, we pray, we see our neighbors as they rush toward smoke. We turn the corner and hear the cries, the smell of burned bodies, acrid. Bloody body bags filled the street. The supreme leader killed, and so are

I watched my aunt and cousins as they walked away into the night, not realizing this would be the last time anyone would see us again, except for… but… I’m getting ahead of myself. Aunt Rose admonished me to head home quickly. Now standing at the crossroads, with a lone streetlamp casting eerie shadows, they slowly slipped into the darkness, their voices fading. Their laughter echoed off the empty street this Sunday night. Our tardiness would anger Father. We were supposed to

This is easy. One pound of elbow macaroni, one pound of ground beef, one can of tomato sauce, and one large can of diced tomatoes. Start by bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil, then add the elbow macaroni. Stir occasionally. Cook the macaroni until firm; do not overcook. Takes seven to eight minutes. Once done, rinse in a colander. While the above is being completed in another, large pan cook off the ground beef. Remove excessive grease. Next, add diced tomatoes, s

Ever wonder who controls the news we view? Journalists, influencers, corporations, private governments, algorithms, AI? Fully AI-generated posts: estimated up to 15% on many platforms. AI-assisted content: likely a large share, up to 50% +. Images/visuals: potentially majority AI-assisted. Ask-the-question: Who oversees TikTok content? The TikTok USDS Joint Venture. LLC: ByteDance 19.9% (Chinese parent company) Oracle Corporation 15% (technology and cloud services company) Si

This would be one of several regrets. I have a collection (of regrets) that keep sneering at me, reminding of a life, dreaming of what I would never accomplish, wishing I could step back in time. College. Now there were several family members, on the Thomas side of family having attended college, but none had completed their degree programs. Attending college while in the middle of the Vietnam War was critical, especially since my lottery number was forty, which technical gua