The annual meeting had always been the same: stale donuts, terrible coffee, and someone constantly talking about this graph or that. Once, according to company lore, someone accidentally brought bagels, and while everyone was at least one degree away from any concrete confirmation, they all accepted it as gospel, because how wild is that? Bagels, man.It was June, the month of graduations that didn’t happen in May, and everyone was, obviously, giddy. The meeting was the official launch of the latest “Grads and” campaign, held by those that ran it, and included all the hoopla one would … [Read more...]
About Whit Honea
For Whom the School Bell Tolls When Graduation Looms
Yesterday is a blur. It is a convergence of two strong, independent streams crossed by time, so deeply intertwined that hindsight and distance often render them as one. That, of course, is not fair to the individuals bound within. Fortunately, a confluence has a way of splitting again, and two roads are always diverging in the now, stretching well into tomorrow.This is where we stand, with the window of elementary school officially closing behind the last one out, and the boys each moving up an academic notch, to middle and high school, respectively. Between them we shall leave no path … [Read more...]
Stopping by Forts on a Sleepless Evening: A Parental Bedtime Story
It is evening. Townes Van Zandt is playing through a scattering of speakers, each calibrated just right to replicate the scratch of a weary needle upon the endless spin of a tattered record, despite the glow of technology designed to hide just that. The song, whiskey-laden perfection sweetened with melancholy twang, is a digital version played through a popular app on a pricy computer, not an album sleeve in sight. I sold my phonograph over a decade ago, my stack of wax shortly after, and while I have regretted it ever since, I have yet to partake in the vinyl renaissance of modern-day … [Read more...]
Thank You for Not Sleeping at Your Sleepover
This sleepover extravaganza left a memory that lingered like a hangover. Turns out that staying awake all night isn’t what it used to be. The cards were admittedly sloppy, competing as they were against time best spent on anything but; however, the sentiment therein was genuine and heartfelt, if not misspelled. That my youngest son, freshly turned to 11, didn’t balk for a moment when I suggested he write thank-you cards was immediately chalked as a victory in this scenario, whereas grammar and penmanship were the battles to be fought another day.We were working on gratitude in the medium … [Read more...]
An Old Dog and the Tricks She is Teaching Our Family
When we first realized she had lost her hearing, we were afraid that it would affect her quality of life. But rather than cower from the challenge, she owned it. ______ It is dark, and all of her world is asleep. She knows there are rules, and also that she is breaking them. It is all part of the thrill. She is stealth, and no one will ever suspect a thing.Valentine is 15 years old, according to the calendar, 105 when you factor for the canine. She was a gift to my wife on Valentine's Day that many years ago. She had been sitting alone, a small puppy in a big cage, and fit warmly in the … [Read more...]