'Family' Category
On Photography and My Father
I’m trying to remember my first encounter with photography in any form other than being the subject of my parents’ all-seeing eyes. My dad enjoyed taking pictures of me as I grew up. He would shoot both slide and print film. Not unlike the experiences of many people, my childhood included a number of moments […]
Members Nights
Whirl has worked at the Field Museum for ten years. She’s worked for a number of departments and divisions in that time doing a wide array of different jobs. We have joked that she seems to be collecting various divisions as a twelve year-old boy might collect baseball cards and have gone so far with […]
Chicago Tourists
My sister, Stephanie—not to be confused with my child bride of the same name—arrived in Chicago on Friday evening as I was flying back from Pittsburgh. (Yes, I passed the exams, thank you for asking. Aced them, in fact.) She stayed with us for the weekend and flew back out to Colorado this afternoon. It […]
Above the Fold
I am tempted to start this entry with a quote from Agent J from Men In Black II. “Old and busted; new hotness.” I know that phrase fails to capture either the tone or the facts of the latest change in my life. Still, I like the humor in it. It makes me smile. In […]
On Love
It seems strange to be writing about love and Las Vegas at the same time. I can reconcile the ideas of lost love with Las Vegas, or betrayed love, or love of money. I can reconcile thoughts of lust, greed and gluttony– even wrath, sloth, pride and envy. But love? That just does not seem […]
Death Fear Tragedy
Death, fear, tragedy—these are indisputable elements of life. I know that. The rational, reasonable side of me knows that. I accept these facts. In time, I accept these facts. I wanted to believe that I had been given a reprieve after last year. A reprieve for a short while, at least.
Yesterday afternoon Whirl and I […]Grandpa’s Death
My grandfather died on Friday. He was ninety years old. My uncle Larry wrote in the Peoria Star-Journal:
Born November 22nd, 1915 in rural Yates City, Illinois to Winfield and Till “Tillie” Ware he married Helen Louise Pullen on August 29th, 1941 in Peoria. He was preceded in death by his wife, Helen, a sister, Mildred, […]
On Death
I have been thinking about death. In the past year death has taken on a prominent place in front of me. This winter Whirl saw her cousin die of brain cancer. I had my own confrontation with death at the same time. Last night Whirl and I put Elijah down.
We first noticed changes in his […]Elijah’s Death
August 30, 2005 at 7pm, Elijah passed, almost 10 years to the day from when we first brought he and his brother home from Harmony House. I write this the day after as a way to find some solace from my unimaginable grief and to pay tribute to our beautiful […]
Tim’s Death
Tim passed quietly, surrounded by friends and family. In April of 2004, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor - a glioblastoma multiforme, which is the most invasive type of primary brain tumor. He went in for emergency surgery to have it removed and lived. My small, close […]
