Mary Stole a Kiss…and Melody Cried

It feels strange walking into that place, but the folks here are my friends now. I keep going back and have been for months. On the surface, I have little in common with these people. A few are good friends but everyone is kind. The folks who work there all greet me and ask how […]

A Speech at Florida Hospital

I am grateful for the chance to tell you a little about my story here at Florida Hospital and the Bartch House My adventure in getting a new heart started in October. I had left Panama, where I lived on my boat and had prepared to sail around the world. I flew to Tampa on […]

Waiting for a Heart

Waiting for a new heart involves a bit of gallows humor. You just can’t help it, but the fact is, someone younger than me will die, and will generously donate a heart which will become mine. You might read this and just think it’s interesting. Waiting for a heart which will keep me alive brings […]

Dear Mom,

Dear Mom, I should be working now, instead of sitting at my desk on the boat writing, but frankly, I am a bit tired and a little sad. Don’t worry, I will get over my sadness. I just have to be grateful for all I have, how lucky I am, and, that I am even […]

Another Moment of Peace

As a young man, I sought pleasure, looking in all the wrong places, for all the wrong things. Pleasure was an escape. As an older man, I seek pleasure, but it is a journey, by way of Peace Harmony Happiness Love Pleasure I was asked a few days ago if I was happy. I said, […]

The Story of Chicken

Her name really wasn’t Chicken; it was Gai, which means chicken in Thai. Thai women have given names as long as your arm, often difficult to pronounce, so most end up with one-syllable nicknames, such as Lek which means small, Dang, which is red, or We, Oi, or Kung. Kung means shrimp. I don’t know […]

I am Not a Gay Man

I was having coffee with a couple of close friends a month or so ago. I forget the context, but one, a very close friend, said, “I am not a gay man. I am a man who is gay.” I thought about it at the time, and have been thinking even more about it lately. […]

One More Day in Laos

Ah, jeez. Chicken feet. I hate chicken feet. They are worse than eating dog. We were on our way to look at some land in Laos to lease for project I am working on. Let’s just say that it is a bit of land, and unbelievably cheap. Thanks to the Communists, I guess. Before we […]

A Working Life Chapter 1

Life was easy back then. It wasn’t simple, but it was easy. I am in my mid-60’s now, and grateful. I worked through one of the most interesting and transformational periods in the history of the United States. I think there were two periods, and they ran sequentially, without a break. My father lived through […]

English or Metric?

I live on my sailboat in the Caribbean. Now I am in Panama. I asked the local maintenance guy to change the zincs (sacrificial anodes) on my boat, a task for a diver. There are zincs on the end of the prop, the rudder support, the prop shaft and the bow thruster. The diver was […]