Over the years, Mom did many wonderful things for me, but one gesture stands out. Whenever Cath and I returned home to Ottawa from wherever we were living, we were welcomed home with unconditional love and my favorite meal ready for our first supper: potato salad and baked ham.
Continue reading “The Homecoming Meal”
As our country’s 250th anniversary approaches, my mind keeps going back to our 200th anniversary in 1976. What would the current Max say to the 21 year old West Point Cadet who was in DC for July 4th that year? As Bob Dylan sang, “I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.”
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The summer Solstice is today, June 21st. Actually, it was at 4:24AM this morning. Here in the DC area, this longest day of the year stretches almost fifteen hours between sunrise and sunset. While it marks the official start of summer, I always feel a touch of sadness as well. A wistful emotion that is silly, and yet…
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Baseball has started, which made me think about dad. How old was I when we first played catch? When he taught me to throw and catch a baseball? I know I was young. I also thought about some of the other life lessons that were a part of that process.
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At Rohan Farm, we have five main pastures or paddocks for the horses. In Cathy’s and my shorthand, we call them: The Back Field, The Jenny Craig, The Barn Paddock, The Field Near the House, and The Front Field. For us, each area has its own particular use.
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On March 9th of last week, Adam Ray would have turned 40. Adam was the son of my West Point classmate Jim and his wife Donna. He was killed by an IED in Afghanistan on February 9th, 2010, one month shy of his 24th birthday. The administration’s cavalier attitude about the current war with Iran is raising old ghosts from past conflicts.
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In the summer of ‘82 while stationed in Germany, we drove to what was then Yugoslavia* for a vacation. Along the way, we stopped for lunch in Venice. That is what you do when you are young and in love. Not for the night. Not for a couple of days. Just lunch, because, why the hell not?
Continue reading “A 1980s Selfie in Venice”
During my Firstie (senior) year at West Point, there was a required Philosophy course. I am not sure what my expectations were going into the class, but there were ideas that stuck with me my entire life, including a discussion on God’s existence, or a lack thereof.
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An old African saying – “GPS tells you the road. It does not tell you there is a hole in the road.” OK, maybe not an old saying, but we did hear this advice in Africa from Harry, one of our safari guides. I was thinking about Harry recently, as someone stuck his truck in our field, while following his GPS.
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Unpopular opinion: You don’t need a ‘New You‘ this January. We’re told every January 1st that we need to reinvent ourselves from scratch. What if this year isn’t about starting over, but about leaning in? I’m talking about perseverance over perfection.
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Live Life Exuberantly 