Category: Reflections (2018-present)

(Scroll to the end for links to my previous 17 blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.) Joanna’s 20th birthday was approaching. She and I had been dating for barely 3 weeks. Her roommate, Shirley Ng, and I went to the Hallmark store in downtown Shawnee, and Shirley helped me pick out a birthday present Read more . . .

(Scroll to the end for links to my previous 16 blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.) History records that, at noon (EST) on January 20, 1973, Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew were sworn-in for their second terms as president and vice-president. Their political “marriage” ended less than nine months later with Agnew’s resignation after Read more . . .

It was 50 years ago this week – November 20, 1972, to be precise – that I presented my senior voice recital at Oklahoma Baptist University, partially fulfilling – as stated in that evening’s program – “senior requirements for the Bachelor of Music Education degree with a major in voice.” As you all know by Read more . . .

(NOTE: This is copied from my Facebook post from earlier this month. I decided, before the month is over, to also include it in a blog post for those of you who are not on Facebook or didn’t see it there.) (Scroll to the end for links to my previous 15 blog tributes to Joanna Read more . . .

(NOTE: I delivered the following eulogy at Bob Morris’s funeral on Saturday, September 10, 2022, at Northridge Church of Christ, Shawnee, Oklahoma.) I spent 20 years as a technical writer and editor and have spent much of the rest of my various careers writing and editing – hundreds, probably thousands, of various types of documents over Read more . . .

(Scroll to the end for links to my previous 14 blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.) Joanna and I celebrated 44 wedding anniversaries before her passing in February 2021. Today is our 46th . . .  only, she is no longer here to celebrate with me. But I know she is nearby, for the Read more . . .

(Scroll to the end for links to my previous 13 blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.) It was a year-and-a-half ago today – in the wee hours of February 14, 2021, around 1:30 a.m., as I was driving back to the hospital in Fort Worth – that I received the worst news of my Read more . . .

“What a difference a day makes . . . twenty-four little hours . . .” sang jazz artist Dinah Washington in the 1960s. Oh yes, and some days make more of a difference than others. Some days change the world and enter the popular vernacular as a shorthand code for those changes: July 4 (1776) Read more . . .

In August 2014, in recognition of George Mason’s 25th anniversary as senior pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, I wrote a personal reflection about the influence of Wilshire and George Mason in our lives – Joanna’s and mine – since we joined 10 years earlier. I encourage you to go back and read what Read more . . .

Between 54-year stints in Philadelphia (1901-1954) and Oakland (1968-2021 and who knows how much longer), the American League’s Athletics (“A’s” for short) played a largely forgettable 13 years (1955-1967) in Kansas City, Missouri’s Municipal Stadium. In 13 years, the Kansas City A’s had nothing but losing records. From 1955-1960, when there were only eight teams Read more . . .