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The Game of Kings
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Son #3 and his wife sent posted a sweet Marco Polo video recently of three of their children singing a Primary song as part of Sunday church in their living room. Their two-year old, on the…
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The Graduation Speech I May Never Give
Graduates of the Class of 2020: It has been a rough year. Pandemic has spread across the globe like an insidious storm, threatening our very definition of “normal, everyday life.” When I was child, polio ripped through our country targeting children, especially. Schools were closed to stem that tide, but nothing like what you have…
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He Was All Right for a Hippie . . .
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost I woke up Easter morning thinking about Brother #1. Years ago I told him that if he died and left me, I’d strangle him. He did. So, I guess he has that to look forward to…
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Hard Times
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost I’ve had a good deal of experience with health care facilities. One memorable summer, I took one relation or another to our local Insta-care every week for nine weeks in a row–eight different kids and one…
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Seeing Through the Smoke
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost The fog that sometimes settles into the valley during winter inversions always reminds me of the day I was pulled over by a cop for running a stop sign on the way to work. Now that…
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The Wedding and the Funeral
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost My friend performed a wedding ceremony on Saturday. She said it wasn’t at all what the couple anticipated when they got engaged. No large group of friends and family; no reception; certainly, no exotic honeymoon. Just the young…
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Tough Boys
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in Robert Frost When my sons were teenagers, they used to play this ridiculous game they called “Buck, Buck.” By some sort of psychic connection, boys would amble from up and down the street to congregate in groups of…
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The Adventurer
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Last week Sons # 1, 3, and 5 loaded up their mountain bikes and, with couple of buddies, headed to the annual Sedona Bike Festival in Arizona. Fierce, magnificent scenery, trails across the spectrum of difficulty,…
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The Nurse’s Aide
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost When Daughter #1 interviewed for a spot in graduate school, she told me one of the professors asked how she planned to pay for it. She replied that her mother had promised her that, “if need…
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Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost When I was three, I had long, silky hair which hung down my back in luxurious curls. It was a color my dad told me was “cow-eyed brown.” At the time I thought it was a…
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The Boys in the Basement
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Now that I’ve lived awhile, I recognize that parents in every generation despair about some popular cultural trend in which their teenagers are involved. When I was young, we were all turning into degenerates because of…
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All God’s Creatures
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost I’ve heard it said that “all God’s creatures have a place in the choir.” Actually, I never really thought about it until I married. Mostly, because I hadn’t had a lot of contact with some of God’s…
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The Apple Slag
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Robert Frost Seven of my eight children had the same kindergarten teacher. I figured if the teacher and I wanted to remain friends, I’d better make a serious effort to soften the effects of the Wild Voorhies Clan…
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The Wrong Line in Heaven
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost I keep hearing people say that they must have stood in the wrong line in Heaven–which explains their current predicament on Earth. I’m thinking I probably stood in the right line, but I’ve been questioning my…
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Science Has Its Drawbacks
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Robert Frost I was a high school English teacher for about 25 years. I love books, and writing, and philosophy, and stories of every kind. So, when seven of my eight children went into fields related to science,…
