November 2, 2026 Greetings from the refresher, One of my best friends is four years old. We like each other’s company, even when we don’t understand each other. We have different interests, we spend our time in vastly different ways, but somehow when we are together, we learn from each other, and we enjoy one another. My friend is Finley, who coincidentally is my grandson. Maybe ‘coincidentally’ is not a strong enough word. He has set a pretty good example of living

About halfway across the lake, I realized I could not pretend to swim much longer.

I have felt this, been in this place before, but it has been so long I'm out of practice.

Life was not measured in that way. "How far?" was not in our lexicon.

...in case a neighbor comes over and needs to solve an Ikea problem.

...Sister Marie Lenore, who seemed to be in all my classes just to punish me for my sins...

“This is,” he once wrote, “a book about Heaven, but I must say too that it has been a close call.”

"Where have you been?"

"Is running a religion?"

Sometimes I laugh simply because I am happy, I think of it as 'smiling out loud'.

On the long list of things I take for granted, I have now added: Outside.

What I learned first is that bird watching is actually bird-listening.

It is a hard town to visit.

It was like watching them being washed with a refreshing breeze.

I was put on probation a few years ago when I gave an answer about running with scissors.

...I am looking for a birthday card I would give to myself.

And so, he went to war. I wrote those words and felt the finality of our family.

"Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise."

More than a lunch rush, this was a bit of a reunion.

Like his first day back in the gym after a winter of watching reruns.