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Unremarked Graves
From here on out, it’s bye-bye Maryland, hello Minnesota. But this is probably as good a point as any to step back from Winter ’71. There are times in life where, even as you’re living it you think,...
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The Handkerchief
Talk about forgotten gifts. On my 21st birthday, Mom and Dad gave me a bottle of rosé wine (I could “officially” drink at 19, but the folks wanted to mark that occasion by buying me wine) and … a...
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Friendship, Indiana
The Family Project summer vacations were de rigueur. When we lived out East, we travelled to Maine in the summer, and Virginia and North Carolina in the spring. The long-distance road trip to the...
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Ghost of His Father
“It’s quite simple. He proves by algebra that Hamlet’s grandson is Shakespeare’s grandfather and that he is himself the ghost of his own father.” —James Joyce, Ulysses Dad had all the answers. All I...
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Hazel
If you’re going to emulate a mama’s boy, there was no one better than Pop. Dad adored his mother, Hazel Marie Hoffert Maupin. And, if I had to choose between grandmothers, she was my favorite, too. My...
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Touched
“When your parents die, you will never see them again. You might think you understand that, but until it happens, you don’t. They say that you come into the world alone and that you leave alone too....
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Pieces of April
“Hallelujah? Easter Sunday,” states the diary on March 26, 1978. Then, bits of April, specifically: 2008, 2012 and … 2013. I know. That last date hasn’t happened yet. How can I write about the future?...
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The Kid Stays in the Picture
In case you’re wondering, I’ve never had kids or been stepfather to a son or daughter. In fact, I’m not sure I like children very much. However a couple years ago I had a vivid dream about a 7-year-old...
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They’ve Only Just Begun
“I was perfectly content before I was born,” film critic Roger Ebert wrote, “and I think of death as the same state.” Therefore, this is a tale told by a zygote. Perhaps a discontented zygote, even,...
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They’ve Only Just Begun (Addendum)
I’m not particularly superstitious, so I’ll just throw this out to y’all. You decide what to make of it, especially coming off a blog post from about a month ago. This morning I sorted and recycled...
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Fixing a Hole
“NO STEAM SHOVELS WANTED” It still hits me in the gut, decades later. And—like Mike Mulligan and his cherished Mary Anne—it, too, made me VERY SAD. No children’s story affected me more than Mike...
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Hector
I wasn’t exactly one of them, but I totally understood thumbsuckers. Fairly sure I haven’t made this confession here before, but I used to suck my curled left forefinger long after it was appropriate...
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Grandpa in His Garage
You see, there’s a photo. I can picture it in my mind’s eye, but I can’t locate the actual print or slide. It was taken by my maternal grandfather, Ray Adams. Of that I’m fairly certain. You know how...
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Backyard Incinerator
Death, then fire. That’s how my parents went out of this world. And likely I will too. It’s something I really try not to think about: how my earthly remains will be disposed of. And for good reason....
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Tell Me a Story
Once upon a time, there were no stories. Umm, what? That’s right. It’s a ridiculous statement to make, because I can’t remember such a time. If there ever was a true beginning of the world, then that...
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Mamie
It was early, very early. Friday morning, Sept. 25, 1981. I would’ve never recalled it if I hadn’t found the death notice in a Greensburg, Ind., newspaper clipping that Mom had kept: “Mrs. Mamie L....
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The Impossibly Improbable Inevitable
It’s been just over three years now. On Thursday, April 5, 2012, at around 1:30 p.m. EST, my brother Brian and I lowered our parents’ ashes into the grave plot of a Greensburg, Ind., cemetery. Sixteen...
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Baby Bright Star
There is a Family Project legend that—left untold—might just die with me. I’m not even sure if my brother knows about it. Or for that matter my Aunt Joyce, who was likely there when it happened. Dad...
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Hanging by a Hair
Interviewer: “So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman?” Frank Zappa: “You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table?” A weird side effect to writing this blog—sensory nostalgia....
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Broad Ripple
This was always going to be titled “Broad Ripple.” I’ve been mulling it over for the past couple months, while working at a new job. You see, when I rebooted Completely in the Dark in 2010 I had no...
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