Originally posted on Another F**king Cancer Blog:
It’s been about 6 weeks since my wife, Susan, passed away, and although I realize that everyone’s experience of grief is unique, there is probably enough overlap, enough universality, to warrant me telling you a bit about my own. And to simplify things, for the purposes of…
Originally posted on Another F**king Cancer Blog:
I’ve always hated roller coasters. Even as a kid, or maybe especially as a kid, they scared the bejesus out of me. I never really understood the exhiliration or the excitement of careening defenseless in a screeching metal cart atop a teetering pile of steel-and-wood toothpicks, fighting…
Originally posted on Another F**king Cancer Blog:
“At least I know how I’m gonna die.” My wife, Susan, wore a grim, glum smile, while I resolutely choked back silent tears that desperately wanted to shed their silence. We were sitting in a Korean restaurant in Barcelona, having come from the hospital where we’d just…
Please allow me a paragraph or two or a few to vent. A few days ago we traveled to a hospital in Barcelona for Susan to receive some routine medical treatment. When we got there, I was horrified. In front of the single open entrance to the hospital there was a guard checking passes and…
A day spent indoors has always felt like something of a defeat to me. So in these days of lock down you might imagine that I feel somewhat, well, defeated. Since we live smack in the center of our city we no longer have the luxury of outdoor spaces; there are only beaches that we…
So I’ve been plugging along on this book off and on for a year or so now, interrupted by hospital stays, lethargy, and life in general. I’m now on chapter 9 or something like that, but I thought I’d share a bit I wrote some time ago. I’ve already shared Chapter One and Chapter Two,…
I know, I know, I’m always going on about my wife’s cancer. This one isn’t about her cancer. Well, yes, I suppose it is, but it’s somewhat more universal than that, more about the human psyche and what punishments it can endure. So if you’re new to this, here’s the long story short: My wife…
Round about our son’s thirteenth birthday, doors started closing. Any room he occupies, if that room has a door, that door is closed. The bathroom, of course, I have no problem with. Shut away, my good man. But his bedroom, the study – there’s always a couple inches of wood between my boy and the…
I’d like to say that I’ve learned to embrace uncertainty. But that would be untrue. I don’t have so much as an arm around uncertainty. We don’t fist bump, high five, or even shake hands cordially yet coldly. What I would say is that I’ve learned to cope with it just a trifle better. Needless…
I have a portfolio on Shutterstock, a platform for buying and selling stock photos. I recently got an email informing me that they were having something of a competition. You could explain (in 500 words or less), why you use Shutterstock, and if your ‘story’ were chosen, they would promote the crap out of your…
So you’re pressed for time (who isn’t?) and you decide to make a simple sauce to throw on some pasta for dinner tonight. Easy, fast, economical. You sauté a bit of fresh garlic in olive oil, maybe some chopped onions, pour in a can or two of of tinned tomatoes, a pinch of salt. Voilà!…
He freaked out. We were having our weekly Pizza Picnic Party and movie, and my wife had chosen A Monster Calls, a “very touching story about a boy who feels very damaged, guilty and mostly angry.” The boy is about 12, an excellent artist and bit of a loner, and he’s struggling with his mother’s terminal…
Well, here is the first-ever blog post by my lovely wife. Although I always make it sound as if this is a joint project, the fact is she’s never contributed a single word until now. I wish it were on a more enjoyable and encouraging topic. Anyway, I’ll let her get to it. Tears are…
Well, I realized it’s been quite some time since I posted Chapter 1, so here’s Chapter 2. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to critique! END of CHAPTER 1: So at the end of the week I packed a few bags, my fishing pole, a selection of books. I locked the front door of the…
I wrote this back in 2013, after Sandy Hook. I guess it’s time to repost it. Again. If you think nothing can be done about gun violence in America, think again. If you think we shouldn’t politicize this, you have to realize that this is a political problem, with a political solution. Reasonable, responsible legislation…
Field Notes From Fatherhood 