Passenger

I love watching people, and a ship is about the best place I've found to do it. Everybody converges. Nationalities I couldn't place, accents I can't identify, families three generations deep at one table. Old people moving slow and full of life. Kids running where they shouldn't. Somebody loud at the bar who wants the … Continue reading Passenger

What I’m Taking

Friday I get on a plane, and for the first time in two and a half years I'm going somewhere with nothing to do. I want to be precise about that, because I've taken time off. Plenty of it. Days with family, weeks around the house. But those weeks still had a kitchen in them, … Continue reading What I’m Taking

A Grown Man On The Phone

My voice dropped when I was thirteen and it dropped all the way. There was a girl named Misty I'd met at camp. Louisiana, thick bayou accent, and we were friends — not dating, nothing like that, just a long-distance friend I thought was about the coolest person I knew. I called her house one … Continue reading A Grown Man On The Phone

Excellence Knows No Age

We watched Down Periscope tonight. I've loved that movie for thirty years and it holds up — silly and sweet at the same time, which is harder to do than it looks. I quote it more than I should. There's a scene early on where the captain is meeting his crew, gets a look at … Continue reading Excellence Knows No Age