Today is our silver wedding anniversary. (Happy anniversary my love.) Twenty-five years ago Martha and I were married at Faith, Hope, and Charity catholic church. The ceremony was followed by a reception at the Glen View Club where we were entertained by, and some of us danced to, Las Toallitas - a band from Chicago Martha and I had selected. Doesn't every wedding need a band wearing fezzes with a woman banging on a rack of automobile brake drums? That was the last O'Brien wedding with music chosen by the wedding couple. We had wanted Brave Combo, a polka band from Texas that we had seen a couple times in St. Louis, but they weren't going to be anywhere near Chicago. When we asked for a recommendation they said Las Toallitas had opened for them recently and were fabulous. In our defense we did our research, and went to a show to check them out. Martha's brother Joe came with us. He gave them a thumbs up. That was perhaps a...
We had a fabulous time visiting you in Louisville. It was really the first opportunity Martha, Owen and I had to get to know you, and it was a huge pleasure. Witnessing whether Hazel could keep a secret about that trip to the gourmet popsicle shop, how Eliza reacted to losing the finger puppet we had given her just an hour earlier, and that time Augie put on a mask and spied on us through the crack in the door, gave us windows into the kind of adults you will become. In gratitude we are sending you a gift. It is with great honor that we present to you this skull, what we hope is your first. There is a whisper of a tradition in this family of sending skulls as gifts. Ask your dad about it. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a skull can tell a thousand stories - particularly the haunted ones. The stories this skull can tell include the following: 1. "I was an old raccoon. In fact I probably died of old a...
This is a busy time for birthdays that I feel are worthy of our memory, if not celebration. The Trump administration and our current cultural maelstrom have breathed new life into a whole library of songs about social turmoil and resistance. What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding comes to mind. But today is George Harrison's birthday, and over the last two years I've been listening to Beware of Darkness ... a lot. Beware of Darkness (All Things Must Pass, 1970) Watch out now, take care Beware of falling swingers Dropping all around you The pain that often mingles In your fingertips Beware of darkness Watch out now, take care Beware of the thoughts that linger Winding up inside your head The hopelessness around you In the dead of night Beware of sadness It can hit you It can hurt you Make you sore and what is more That is not what you are here for Watch out now, take care Beware of soft shoe shufflers Dancing down the ...
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