Not one to turn away a homeless mother and her children, I began leaving food and water for Ash on the front porch. Since we already have two cats, a bird, a hamster and a dog who live inside with our family of four and a Dalmation in the back, I thought it best she and her kittens remain outdoors.
We're looking for a leader with character, a patriot, someone who's unafraid to speak his mind and willing make a commitment without first filtering it through the spin cycle.
In my head I know this is a good thing, their opportunity to share an adventure and further cement their father-son bond. Outside I am calm, but inside I am chilled to the bone and my heart is shrieking.
This is a tribute to the crew of the Lady Patricia. Most of them are gone. A few are still around. One of them is my dad. They represent a great generation of men and women who did their duty under difficult circumstances. Many paid the ultimate price and never returned. Many more brought home memories that haunt them still, especially in their dreams when the years melt away. This is their story, my dad's, that of the crew of the Lady Patricia, and the story of perhaps thousands like them.
When the 25-ton blast door is closed, an enormous sound explodes through the tunnel. We are forewarned, but the sound is worse than we expect. "Everybody all right?" our guide asks. "Good, now we'll go on to decon." ...
I had the good fortune late last month to travel to Paris, where I spent five days immersed in French culture and cuisine. Hemingway wrote that Paris is "A Moveable Feast," and the city lived up to its reputation.
The call came on a Tuesday night. The books are in. We will hold your copy until Saturday. I quickly asked the saleswoman to put it on my card and ship the book via UPS next-day delivery. I immediately laughed at myself because somewhere deep down I felt afraid someone -- a Muslim radical! -- would somehow find out I had ordered the forbidden book.
The soldier can't remember what he had to eat that night, and he remembers little about the others who joined him. But he will never forget the stranger's act of kindness, which gave some World War II servicemen a warm welcome home and endured to help a veteran stand tall in his daughter's eyes.
Our mouths drop in disbelief, and once again we are stunned. We just don't get it yet, do we, why children are taking up arms and firing into crowds with no regard for the lives they are forever disrupting in an instant.
We climb a mountain because it's there. But sometimes in the process we lose sight of the grass beneath our feet.
