How I Met My Muse, Part IX: Denouement?

December 1979 It was the last day before Christmas break, and I was looking forward to having a few weeks off school despite the inevitable weirdness that would ensue over the holidays. My parents were no longer living under the same roof, and I would have to celebrate Christmas with each of them separately, just like […]

How I Met My Muse, Part VII: Blogjump

Back to 2009 (it gets a little tricky here!) Becoming reacquainted with Maria, now known as Stargirl, was both gratifying and exhausting. Communicating via Facebook’s instant messenger gave the whole experience an unreal quality, as if we were speaking across time via some digital, high-tech telegraph. I was undergoing a sense of temporal ambiguity as the result […]

How I Met My Muse, Part VI: “Prick!”

Back to 1979 (pay attention now) Maria’s proclamation of her love for me presented a problem; I simply did not feel the same about her.             Initially, Maria was a sort of novelty to me. She certainly wasn’t like the girls I had associated with in junior high. However, the excitement of the after-school make out sessions had since […]

How I Met My Muse, Part IV: Homecoming

In hindsight, that evening is significant in that it was perhaps our last “Cleaver Moment,” meaning we were functioning as a normal, loving and supportive nuclear family unit

How I Met My Muse, Part I: Squeaky Clean

It was as if from that point forward I was unconsciously driven to produce the exact opposite result my parents had intended.

The Tattletale

While we were growing up, my sister, Celeste, was the world’s biggest tattletale. Regardless of the severity of any transgression committed by my brother or me, the first indication of any wrongdoing was greeted with: “Ummmm, I’m telling . . . .” And it made no difference whatsoever whether said offense concerned her in any […]

In Praise of Proactive Paranoia

Mark Twain said, “Some of the worst things in my life never even happened!” All too frequently, I have found myself jumping off the deep end over what might happen, only to find that I got all worked up over nothing.

“Just Sound It Out!”

Was this what I had coming next? Carl was having trouble with the words. I didn’t even know what the pictures were! I became terrified and began bawling loudly.

The Day I Met My Daughter

After eight years of marriage and three heartbreaking miscarriages, we felt more than ready to start a family. Nevertheless, on the eve of such a life changing event, emotions and anxieties ran rampant. Yes, we were really going through with this!

Elba, Part I: Ascent into Madness on a Department Store Escalator

“As Mac floated upwards on the magical moving staircase, I was delighted at the prospect that he would soon be gone forever.”