Hey baby, do you ask yourself sometimes what you need to be forgiven? Everything that you’ve ever done wrong is the reason that I’m driven straight to you… -Counting Crows, High Life I have trouble with forgetting. Or, better put,…
Call Your Mother
It’s not that I didn’t used to call my mother. I called my mother all the time. We would talk for five minutes, or ten or even twenty. And then she would hand the phone over to my dad. And…
In the Land of Make-Believe
The imagination of children is a powerful yet perplexing phenomenon. Those who’ve spent any significant time with kids, or even who remember their own childhood well, can speak to the extensive creative ability of society’s youngest members. And in raising…
Wistful Wisteria
When I was a young child in Visalia, in California’s Central Valley, we had a wisteria vine growing in the side yard. It would grow uncontrollably in spring and summer, sprouting thin green tendrils seemingly overnight and looping them around…
One Thing Project: Announcement and Rules
Well I’ve been waking up at sunrise I’ve been following the light across my room I watch the night receive the room of my day Some people say the sky is just the sky But I say Why deny the…
Eulogy for Donald Clayton (1948-2023)
My father’s wake was three days ago. I’m still in varying versions of shock and horrified grief, often in an alternating cycle. But many of you were unable to attend the wake, either in person or online, and have asked…
A Wake for Donald Clayton (1948-2023)
We are holding an informal wake and open house for my father on Saturday, July 8th, starting at 2:00 PM. It will be at the house he made so beautiful, 1514 Silver Avenue SW in Albuquerque. All are welcome to…
Donald Clayton (1948-2023)
My wonderful, loving father died of a heart attack on Friday night at the age of 74. He was in his beautiful home, with his wife of 44 years, talking to me on the phone when he collapsed. I am…
Anatomy of a Weekend: Chronicling a Whirlwind Trip to See the Mariners in Toronto for Wild Card Game 2
The cast: Storey, your narrator, a long-suffering Mariner fan who remembers every triumph and despair in three decades of fandom. Alex, his wife, who has rooted for several years of hopelessness, near-misses, and very recent success. Graham, their son (21…
Brownie (2013-2022)
Brownie the Rabbit (~April 2013 – July 20, 2022) Last night, surrounded by her family at Mt. Laurel Animal Hospital, Brownie crossed the rainbow bridge. She had a long full life that spanned at least three states and multiple loving…