Did you think it was something else? — It all started with my great-grandfather, EJ. He was born in 1865. His father wrote many letters from the civil war. He was on the union side. In those letters, he referred to his son as EJ even though his real name was Eugene Jean Rawson. He named my grandfather…

How do you get there from here? — It started with a blind date. One of my friends described this woman that was right for me. The first time he did that, I was in a long-term relationship. After three attempts, he stopped. Months later, he found out I was no longer in a relationship. The day he…

Prompt 50 of 52 for Dancing Elephant Press — In the year 2023, we’re all learning that information is key. The more you have, the more you play an integral part in the family, among friends and business. My father used to say, “Use your head for something besides a hat rack.” This was a message echoed by my…

What does it really mean? — Oh my gosh, there are so many ways to express the number 1. However, here on Medium, it only counts in claps. Maybe we should ask ourselves when we give one clap, are we saying: 1 clap; I read your story 1 clap; that’s nice 1 clap; it’s absolutely the…

And, no new notifications. — O.K. Now what? How many of us find ourselves in this position? Very often? Probably not. So many of us never delete emails or at least unimportant emails. Where are your Medium notifications? Wait, I know. I do know the answer to that one. …

The one with two hands used to acknowledge . . . — Finally, there’s a .gif that does all the work for us. This would be so much easier than deciding. It would not be received well because you have to ask, “How many claps are they giving and what does it mean?” It could mean: 1 clap — Hey, I read…

Why? “Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night.” GARCIA-NAVARRO — This was written by a great Poet in 1951, and in 1952, the Poet Dylan Thomas restated these words, and my generation continues to echo these words every day. My generation, those of us born between 1946 and 1964…

Knock it out of the park — Sports gives us a lot of examples of triumph. One more widely used expression is “Swing for the fences.” It used to be that the fence defined the outfield; it was often chain link or wood that surrounded the field. When a batter came up to bat, he was instructed…

It depends on whose vision it is. Anyone can have a vision. However, so few people act on them. What is vision, and does everyone have it? The answer is it's a glimpse of what one sees something to be. …