Have you ever looked at your kitchen counter and thought it had a life of its own? One day it’s empty, the next it’s home to three half-opened jars of pickles, a stack of mail taller than my granddaughter, and what I can only hope is a forgotten science project. We’ve all been there. It’s […]

Ever feel like you’re just goin’ through the motions? I was fixin’ a wobbly fence post one Saturday – sweatin’, cussin’ at a stubborn nail – when my wife came out with two sweet iced teas. She looked me square in the eye and asked, “Bojangles, is this it?” She wasn’t talkin’ ’bout that fence […]

Did you ever try to teach an old dog a new trick? Well, let me tell you about the time I tried to teach my wife’s silly poodle, Frou-Frou – yes, that was her name, don’t ask me why – how to fetch. We’d spent thirty minutes with this fancy, high-end squeaky toy, and all […]

Have you ever looked at your alarm clock on a Monday morning and felt like you’re staring into the face of your own personal jailer? I sure have – more times than I care to admit back in my hardware store days. There’s a special kind of misery that comes from knowing you’ve got four […]

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? You’re in the middle of a team meeting, and your coworker, let’s call him Chad – bless his heart – is presenting a project. He confidently states that the client wants the new logo to be “deep purple.” But honey, you know for a fact the client’s brief said […]

Here’s a little story from my days back at the hardware store – my favorite source of life lessons, of course. A fella came in, Mr. Abernathy I think his name was, looking more flustered than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. He had this big ol’ toolbox he’d just bought, and […]

Remember old man Higgins from down the block (not sure why you would…)? Everybody said he had two left feet when it came to dancing – that his stiff personality was a roadblock. But one Saturday night at the town square dance, something shifted. He wasn’t trying to be anybody else; he was just being […]

Alright now, let me tell you a little story about my own son. When he was about nine years old, I decided we’d build that birdhouse he’d been pestering me about. Now, in my mind, this was a simple afternoon of sawdust and smiles. In reality, it turned into an impromptu physics lesson on why […]

I remember the day I hired young Billy to stock shelves at my old hardware store. The boy was bright-eyed and eager, full of ambition to “climb the ladder.” He saw his starting wage as a pit stop on the way to the corner office. One afternoon, I found him staring at a jar of […]