Why is it that no matter where I stood in the kitchen, that I was without fail right in front of the drawer Terry needed to open? Is that what marriage is about? I’ve been wondering about that and other great conundrums of life. Why? Because all that is required to be in a philosophical ...

When it was time to go, Uncle Ron waved and said, “See you in the funny papers.” Or if I told Uncle Tom, “See you later,” he’d reply, “Not if I see you first.” But if he did see me first, he’d call out, “Here comes trouble.” If we dropped in at a neighbor’s farm, ...

I have another birthday coming up in a couple of weeks and I’m feeling cranky. Old-man cranky. I’m-out-of-chocolate cranky. I’ve earned the right to be old-man cranky. I was born, after all, not just way back in the 1900s, but the 1950s at that. That means the nose hairs and ear hairs ...

In all of my adult life, not once has any employer, relative or stranger asked, “Hey, what’s the 31st element on the periodic table?” They do want to know why I missed the meeting, lost my password or forgot to put on pants, but never has anyone cared about the periodic table or any of ...

That little fort in the apple tree took us kids on many adventures across the known — and unknown — galaxy. It wasn’t much of a fort, really. But then, it wasn’t much of an apple tree, either. With the help of Gordy, the big kid who lived across the road, we lugged a door that had ...

Cousin Dweezil sent me another one of her tidbits of what she considers wisdom: “I’ve found that if you tuck one part of your pants legs into your socks, people expect less of you.” OK, maybe that one is wise. But not all of the questionable quandaries, ponderances and quagmires that ...