Daily Life Dreaming...

As I prepare for his first visit to my hometown, I’ve been looking at the city I live in with new eyes.  I have my favorite haunts, of course, like my favorite deli (Bagel Boyz), favorite sushi place (Suzushi), and ethnic hole-in-the-wall (Istanbul Grill).  But I’ve also been looking at places I rarely go, places I’ve always wanted to go,and places I never thought anyone would want to visit with me.  When you are picking places to “show off” where you live, and in my case entice him to see that this can be home, you see so much more. This weekend,...

The Time Creep...

I flew into Knoxville on Tuesday and back to Dallas on Thursday.  It gave us the opportunity to share two dinners and two breakfasts.  It gave us the opportunity to sit in the same room and breathe the same air.  It gave us the opportunity to laugh together over four episodes of King of the Hill.  It also gave us the opportunity to hold hands when we grocery shopped, to kiss goodbye when I headed to a meeting, and embrace hello when I returned.  You called the time together holy, and indeed it was. Every day that passes gets us closer to living in the same space together.  ...

11:40 Tuesday Bliss...

Rocky the golden cat sits snoozing on the absolute edge of my desk, his old, battered face nodding momentarily, then coming abruptly awake to stare at the buzz of an insect or the yammer of another cat. On television, Stewie Griffin writes his memoirs, blaming a man dressed in white for all his ills; meanwhile Brian chases the Purina Dog Chow wagon into a sack of dog food. A menagerie of plush animals and beasties stare mutely at me. I rest an eye on one of them and let my imagination wander. What if Frida Kahlo had been able to talk with a hedgehog? Would the communication...

On Merging Our Libraries...

I called him with a seemingly innocent question:  “Do you like Abraham Lincoln?”  He expounded upon the reasons that he loves and admires Lincoln, and then got around to asking me why I had asked. “I’m sorting through books, and wondered if you would mind if I put all my Lincoln books in your office.”  He laughed and told me that of course I could put my Lincoln books there, as it would give me a reason to interrupt him when he was working.  He knows me well. From the time that I discovered words made sentences which eventually told a story,...

Illumination: Artificial and Natural...

Often, on nights spent in the mountains here in Eastern Tennessee, I’ve stared up at the sky and wondered what the experience must have been like for Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, two of the first white men to explore the area at a time when Cherokee villages were the only dots of civilization in what was largely wilderness. Boone was best known for his exploration and settlement of what would later become the state of Kentucky, but he wandered into Tennessee. A tree in Washington County bears witness: “D. Boon Cilled a. Bar on tree in the year 1760.” (Read:...

Comfort Food...

The distance between us has led me to discover a new love for comfort foods.  Megan, one of the ATG Columnists recently wrote about food that heals, and I well understand in both times of loss and times of joy how food is a comfort.  The actual act of cooking is also comforting:  to be able to take raw ingredients and mix and blend and stir until it becomes something different.  I grew up on Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, but this recipe has become my favorite. Begin to boil your pasta. My pantry is stocked with Barilla Plus Pasta. The nutritional content is higher than regular...

Run...

As our relationship grows more profound, I have increasing difficulty writing about it. It’s easy to be glib when there is nothing more than the ante on the table, much harder when the stakes are considerably higher. There are times now when I look at you and my tongue literally sticks to the roof of my mouth. All words are inadequate to express what I feel. So I rely on others — especially on music — to say what I cannot. I’ve shared Amy MacDonald’s “Run” before; but it seems especially appropriate now. I’m going to run this...

Autumn...

There is a trace of autumn in the air here in Texas. To be honest, there isn’t much to the seasonal changes here.    One day, it’s 99 degrees and green with brown patches (due to the heat) and the next day it’s 60 degrees and brown with green patches.   We have two big seasons:  winter and summer.  The seasons that typically bring about a changing of mother nature’s clothing in the Smoky Mountain regions and along the New England Coast aren’t  nearly as long, nor are they as brilliant.   But autumn is here. It isn’t that the leaves...

Sunday Mornings...

I love Sunday. It’s a day of rest as well as a spiritual day.   I spend some time in prayer and meditation.  I try to spend some time doing creative things.  I rarely do client work.  Even when I am traveling, I try to block out at least the morning to worship, savor breakfast and leisurely read the paper.  It’s sacred time:  a time to recharge my body and my spirit. When it comes to relationships, I knew that one of the keys for a successful relationship, at least for me, was to have a companion that viewed Sundays in a similar fashion.   As he well noted,...

Breakfasting...

I am not a morning person. I’m much better at night. Unless I’m on a deadline, you’ll rarely find me out of bed before 9 a.m. — and then only because I’m a stickler about taking morning meds at the same time every day. When the cheerful old sun peeks over the horizon at the crack of dawn, he should be glad I’m still sleeping. Otherwise I’d be tempted to put a cap in his ass. Look for me at 1 a.m. and I’m abuzz. I flourish in the wee hours. I find I’m more imaginative, more productive and more cheerful. Unfortunately most...