Dad here; it was August 29,1994 when I first walked into the Red Cross to give blood. One of the first things I remember was a bulletin board featurong Polaroid pictures of old men who had reached certain milestones in giving, 1 gallon, 5 gallons, even 10 gallons! I remember thinking, "these guys are old! I will never reach that level of giving!" We recently received word that the local branch of the Red Cross…

FINALLY! When dad and I travel, we live by the Rule of Threes, the first being that you can cross the country with three pairs of socks and underwear: one pair to wear, one pair to wash and by drying, and one pair for emergencies. The Rule also applies to events; we can go for days without a mechanical mishap, but once you have one, you can pretty much count on having two more in…

The young talk about the future because they have no appreciation of the past; the old talk about the past because they dread the future. What do the gawky adolescent, the lonely elderly, the mid-life crisis man, the post menopausal woman, the deserted dog in the crate, all have in common?  the pervasive fear that life has passed us by, that we were doing the speed limit, obeying the rules, when somehow our window of…

Dad here; I came in from work tonight, tired(but not the good kind) from putting out fires at work; and not even the satisfying type of fires, where you get covered with a manly layer of soot and ashes. No, just the run of the mill type where no actual energy is produced and the only burn involved is to the heart. So I came home, let the dogs out to do as much damage…

Dad here; this is non-Charlie related, but I humbly asked for and received her permission, so there. I am mortally embarrassed that I have a longtime friend in the hospital dealing the exact same procedure that I had to deal with after my motorcycle accident in 2014 BC (before Charlie). (Cue the ominous music) THE COLOSTOMY BAG!! I typed that in all caps as that's how it registered in my brain the first time I…

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle" I prefer #2; some may call this defeatist, giving up this much control of one's destiny to a higher power, but I believe there is an order to to the universe, and that nothing "just happens". Every encounter and experience has the potential to be a miracle if we…