Twenty one nations

The waltz originated with peasants in Germany and Austria. The English and the Americans developed their own style, slower, while the Viennese waltz became faster, closer, more scandalous and to a different beat. In Vienna, the music and the dance are one, elegant and forever linked to Austria. The foxtrot has African-American roots, changing as […]

What did you learn today?

My father often asked that when I was a boy. I couldn’t tell him I had learned that Kathleen, who sat in front of me had pink ribbons in her braids instead of rubber bands that day. Nor that a few guys learned to snap towels in the shower after gym class, with one guy […]

Good Guys and Bad Guys

I went to the bookstore the other day. But that isn’t the point of the story, merely a way to tell it. I was on my way to Dancing with the Local Stars in Naples, and was early, decided to eat, was alone, and had no book. I cannot be alone without a great companion…a […]

ALL that is left is the story

I stood next to the canvas windbreak, rather than sit on one of the plastic chairs facing the casket. The sky was gray, the wind cold and piercing. A few cows with snow on their backs watched from yards away. Beyond the cows, the land they grazed stretched for miles. The small and remote cemetery was surrounded […]

The dignity of work

I turned from the entrance at The Café in Naples, and almost knocked her over, plates and all. I grabbed the tray and held it with one hand, and her arm with the other, and lost not a glass. She was on my weak side, a few inches under 5 feet tall. I could tell […]

Who Are You?

What are you? Who are you? Are you what you have done? Are you close to whom you want to be? Are you what you have seen and thought, or perhaps written? Your adventures? Experiences? Your mistakes? How you made amends? Who you have loved and lost? Or who you have helped? I asked Mandy, who […]

1968

I went to my high school reunion this week. I am not going to say which one. Well, alright, I will, if you insist. It was the 50th reunion. I have known most of these people since I was 12 years old. Several are life-long friends. When I was in the hospital for most of 2017, […]

A Letter to My Donor

“We have a heart for you,” Doctor S. said on September 24, 2017, a few hours before midnight. It had been nearly a year since I almost died and was offered this heart. I came out of a coma after nearly a month, bearded, hands strapped to the side of the bed, tubes everywhere, weak, emaciated, […]

Survivor

It has been a long time since I have written much of anything. My new heart is working well. Only seven months ago today, I was gifted a new heart. It is hard to believe that this morning I walked two miles and lifted weights on my new weight bench by the pool. I am […]

“Sailor traveling the world stops in Orlando for new heart” -Orlando Sentinel

This article is reposted from Orlando Sentinel. See the full article, including a video here. Sailor and Florida Hospital patient John Allen, 67, never planned to end up in Orlando. “Work has brought me all over the world,” said Allen. Allen, a world traveler and engineer, spent his life planning and plotting adventures across the […]