Terry downed her night meds, fussed with the blankets and swapped out pillows. I rolled onto my other side, an effort that involved more oofing, groaning and wriggling than used to happen during an entire backyard football game. Soon, we’d be sleeping like babies — which is to say, ...

My office walls are bare. I’m searching for a life philosophy that I can hang as a motivational poster — minus the motivation. I don’t want to be nagged into actually accomplishing something. After studying the wisdom of the great philosophers, I’ve narrowed it down to these: ...

At first, it was a joy to watch those “First Time Hearing” videos in which hosts listen to decades-old pop music. It warmed my heart to see young adults blown away by how good the music from my generation sounds. But the more I binge-watched the YouTube videos, the more depression rolled ...

We’d only been up the tree for 20 minutes that spring day decades ago, but with the bull snorting beneath us, it already felt like 20 hours. “When do you think he’ll get bored and go away?” I asked cousin Ollie, who lounged on the next limb over. Ollie studied the monstrous creature ...

It’s spring! I think. The calendar says spring dawned March 30, but I have awakened to snow and winter coats quite a few days this April. Mixed between them are afternoons of shirtsleeves and sunshine. As the great philosopher Mark Twain once said, “In the spring, I have counted 136 ...

I’m positive my wife violated a wedding vow. It’s that one about pampering me in sickness and health. “The word ‘pampering’ wasn’t there,” Terry claims. All that vow requires, according to her opinion, is to love me even when I’m not faking the 24-hour bubonic plague to get ...