Today marks the 25th anniversary of the day my identical twin brother David was killed by a drunk driver on his way back to UCSD in California. He was driving from Boston to San Diego. Fifteen minutes before he left our childhood home for his long trip back to school I had a bag in [...]
This was posted by my friend Pam as her status on Facebook today. “On this day we are reminded of how fragile life is. Cherish and love your family and friends. Tell them you love and appreciate them every single day. You never can know if you will ever see them again.” Eleven years ago [...]
(this post is a work in progress and will be finished shortly) Wednesday, July 11, 2012, I flew out to Columbus to attend the 2012 Annual Conference for Twinless Twins Support Group International. Since I had promised to bring cheesecakes to Crystal, I decided to fly out a day early and stay with my cousin [...]
Alcoholism and drug addiction are terrible diseases—they are a lot like Alzheimer’s or dementia in that the person you love is still there physically but totally changed mentally in so many ways. As I understand it, alcoholism and addiction don’t change the core beliefs or values of a person, but they drastically change the behavior [...]
Because of the current summer heat wave, I wanted to post some information on Summer Heat Safety… taken from the NY Red Cross website. I’d add that you really need to stay well hydrated…by the time you become thirsty, you’re already well on your way to being dehydrated, so drink water, and lots of it. [...]
A year ago today, I asked one of the most amazing women I have ever known to marry me. Ellie is one of the smartest, strongest, most beautiful, most stubborn and feisty spirited women I have ever known. She is the woman that I believe my late wife Gee asked me to seek out after [...]
If you need any proof that the US legal system is broken, this story is pretty much all you need to read. Currently, an asshat that is also an attorney has filed suit against one of my favorite online cartoon websites–The Oatmeal, the National Wildlife Foundation and the American Cancer Society, as well as the [...]
A friend of mine was talking about his upcoming retirement. He mentioned that his father worked for the government for 43 years and retired on a full pension, but only lived to enjoy retirement for four years. He was thinking that if he continued to work for four more years, he’d get almost 40% more [...]
Eleven years ago today I said goodbye to my beautiful and gracious wife Gee. She had finally lost her battle with pancreatic cancer. She was diagnosed with stage three metastatic pancreatic cancer six months after we got engaged. The day after she was diagnosed, her father came to me and asked if I wanted to [...]
Eleven years ago today, I brought my beautiful wife Gee home for the last time. She had been in the hospital for the almost 12 days and we knew these would be her last few days. Earlier in the week, I had rented an oxygen concentrator and bought a medical recliner and other furniture and [...]
There was a recent news story about a 22-year-old woman, Elizabeth Finnegan, who has been arrested for OUI in this area. She was arrested because she was allegedly involved in a fatal multiple car accident on early Sunday morning, around 0130. According to the news story, she was arrested and charged with operating under the [...]
Today, Sunday, May 20, 2012, was the first sail of the 2012 season for s/v Pretty Gee. I was excited to have an old friend along for the sail. I hadn’t seen my friend Adrienne since 1997, when I moved to Virginia and she headed off to Belgium for a nine-year stint in the EU. [...]
Today is the official start of the 2012 sailing season for me and s/v Pretty Gee. I launched s/v Pretty Gee with the help of Dale and Merry. When I got down to the boat this morning, I loaded the mainsail, the bimini, some PFDs, the flares I bought yesterday, and a couple other boxes [...]
Sunday, I helped Dale and his sister-in-law Merry move S/V Hilarity from Fairhaven to Bourne. Dale bought S/V Hilarity at the end of last season and needed to move her from my marina, where she wintered, over to his mooring in Bourne, about 15 nm as the crow flies (shown on the image by the [...]
Today is Easter Sunday. In the Christian faith, it is a day of celebration, for Jesus Christ was resurrected from death on this day. The season of Lent is one of prayer, penance, death and resurrection. It is a season of hope, renewal and faith. Even though Easter holds some sad memories for me, I [...]
Today is a very special day, since three of the people I care about most were born today. I want to wish my nephew Nick, my adopted big brother Brian and most of all, Ellie–the woman I love most of all–a very happy birthday. I hope that today finds brings them health, happiness and a [...]
I don’t really know if she is still out there reading what I write. If she is, and I hope that some part of the amazing woman I love still survives and is reading what I write and cares about what I say, I want her to know that one of the things I miss [...]
Today’s Mega Millions jackpot is at a record-breaking $640,000,000 as I write this. I have to wonder how many of my readers bought a ticket for tonight’s drawing, and if they did, what would they do if they won? I bought a couple tickets, but not because I want the money for myself, but because [...]
It is a sad thing that the Million Hoodie March is necessary. The march is a protest to raise awareness of the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year old black latino youth. He was killed by an older white man, George Zimmerman, who was captain of the local neighborhood watch. The basic facts of the [...]
I was hoping that this year was going to be better than last year. If it is going to turn out that way, I’m having a really tough time seeing it right now. I know that God never gives us more than we can handle…and right now, I’m dealing with everything on my plate, but [...]
Today is Ash Wednesday. It is the first day of Lent. For Lent I have given up cookies. This is this is the first time I have given anything up for Lent. I was not raised in a religion that required giving up anything for Lent. In fact, the religious make up of my family [...]
Damn… two good ones sailed off for Fiddler’s Green. My friends Paul and John, both passed away yesterday. I knew the two of them through the sailing forums. Even though Paul switched to powerboats after he got an LVAD implanted, he was always a sailor at heart. I guess his heart finally gave out on [...]
Etta James, probably best known for her song At Last, just passed away. It’s sad to hear for me because Etta and At Last were what Gee and I picked for our wedding 12 years ago. We didn’t even have to discuss it…it was the first choice for both of us. Even today, over a [...]
We make choices every day. Some we are conscious of, others we are not. Some of these choices can affect others, not just ourselves, and not always in good ways. I recently found out that Ellie had been in a car accident. From what I have heard, it wasn’t a serious car accident. And as [...]
Happy New Year’s Eve to all my friends and family. This is the last day of the year and I, for one, am very happy to see 2011 end. I hope the New Year brings all of you success, health and happiness. I hope that 2012 will be a better year for many of us. [...]
Holidays, present a difficult situation for many recovering alcoholics, since the parties of the season often involve alcoholic beverages, and one may not want it known that they are a recovering alcoholic. The Crying out Now blog provides a pretty good list of tips for those trying to maintain their sobriety during this time of [...]
Wishing all my family and friends a very Happy Thanksgiving. May this holiday find all of you happy, healthy and safe. I ask that my beloved weather goddess watch over all of you during your travels this week. May you all have safe journeys to warm hearths and berths this week. Even though this has [...]
I would like to wish a very happy birthday to my father and Bea, Ellie’s little sister. They were both born on this day, though many years apart. I would like to wish them both many more birthdays to come, as well as hope that they both have a fantastic day and a good year [...]
I’m lying on the foredeck of my friend’s sailboat, thinking about and missing Ellie. When she was younger, she used to love sleeping on the foredeck of S/V Pretty Gee. She also used to curl up under the dodger, above the S/V Pretty Gee’s companionway. Right now, she appears to be missing in action and [...]
I have been working on a book about what Gee and I went through in the short 23 months and one day we were together. However, I haven’t really been able to write the book and couldn’t understand why until this week. This week I finally realized what had been keeping me from really working on the book. The problem was I did not know the how the book would end. This week, I think I finally figured it out—but the ending has yet to be written.