Chapter I: Falling (Death of a Tree)
It’s been four years since I began this journey. Really, in fact, it’s been a journey my whole life. However, the last four years have been among the most life changing I’ve ever experienced. Four years, when I first began to write to you, I was searching through the shelves of a video store while my wife was on the opposite side of the planet. I was struggling to find peace knowing that the love of my life wasn’t there with me. The only solace I found was in an old copy of the Jack Lemmon and Walter Mathau classic “The Odd Couple.” Little did I know that moment may have been preparing me. Perhaps that time away from my wife was preparing me for what was to come two years later on a cold Winter morning, when I loaded a laundry...
An Introduction: A Return To What Used To Be; A Look Back At What Is Still To Come
Hello old friend, again. It’s been a long time since I last wrote. In fact, it’s been well over two years. No, my dear friend it has been far too long. There are so many stories I long to tell you. So many songs I long to sing for you. The long road of life is still ever winding. It goes along the river streams, and up the mountain top. It runs through valleys and deserts. It journeys through the coal fields of Appalachia, and the corn fields of the Midwest. Yes, this road is continuing to carry many passengers along, of which I am lucky to be one. After the last two years, I’ve decided to close the ten chapters that make up the Cowtown Telegram, and after much inner debate, I’ve decided to publish it here. While those ten chapters could be...
Chapter X: Spring Has Come To Chase Away the Birds
All is quiet on the Midwestern front today. The birds are chirping, the tulips are blooming and we’ve managed to survive once again, through that cruel mistress of which we call “Winter”. No, it wasn’t a terrible winter in my hometown by any stretch of the imagination, save for the annual January bowl game loss by the University’s football team. We survived. Not unlike we do every single Winter. Everytime the devlish harlot rears her ugly face in Central Ohio, we say we can take it. By mid-January all the stores are out of salt, shovels and canned meat. By mid-February, the stores are already shoving bikinis and sandals down our throat, even though there is a foot of snow outside, and poor Mrs. Berkshire can’t find a new pair of Duck Boots that will...
Chapter IX: We Meet Again, Old Friend, We Meet Again
All is well on the Midwestern front on this cold, depressing winter day. The bird has up and headed to the land of Elvis and NASCAR, leaving us lowely Buckeyes to fend for ourselves to create the music the fills the morning sky. It’s been a long time since I’ve spoken with you. I wish I could say it was due to some sort of marvelous adventure that has taken me to far away lands, far far away from the congestion of these city highways and away from all sorts of communication, in search of some wonderful piece of treasure. However, to tell you such a tale would surely be one of the more elaborate hoaxes I’ve ever contrived. No, in fact, I have been here all along, swaying in my easy chair to the sweet sounds of Ella Fitzgerald and wishing for brighter days. I...
Chapter VIII: Matilda and Me
All is well on the Midwestern front this brisk, rainy autumn eve in my wonderful home. The Elm tree is finally just about bare, and soon very soon my yard will be leafless. They’re calling for snow flurries over the weekend, which is just what you expect here in my hometown. It’s one of those odd cities in America where we do still get four seasons, however every year Summer and Winter seem to last longer and come earlier than ever. Oh but yes, soon, and very soon the snow will blanket the ground and Old Man Winter will show his face to the Buckeye State once again. It should be a quiet weekend at home with the wife, the two felines and Matilda, our Welsh Corgi. There are plenty of songs to be sung, drinks to be had and moments to be shared. Its the perfect...
Chapter VII: The Red and Blue Afterglow
All is well in the midwestern front. The leaves on the trees have all turned and are now littering my front lawn. My old Elm tree serves as a reminder that work does not end at 6:30 when I clock out from my job. In fact, work is only beginning. It’s October in Ohio (as I suppose it is in the rest of the world). It’s not just any October though, it’s October – in an election year, in Ohio – the swing state. I can’t help but be completely turned off to politics at this point in time. Being asked if I support the Old Guy with Yellow Teeth or the Young Guy with Big Ears is like asking which way would you rather die, being tickled to death or dying of laughter. They both cause the same result in the end, it’s just one is a little less invasive. For the...
Chapter VI: Cincinnati
There are some people in life you just never forget. Many people have impacts on your life. Some in big ways, like teachers, pastors, Nitro from American Gladiators. Then there are those who have those subtle little impacts on you. You may not realize it at the time, but they shape you in a way you wouldn’t expect. For me, one of those people was an old man from my hometown in Beckley. I don’t even really know his name. I’m not sure if today I could pick him out of a lineup, but I remember him. I was probably only about 14 or 15 years old at time, working at a soup kitchen our church put on in the coffee shop where our church met. (Confused?) He was sitting in the corner playing checkers. Playing checkers with my mom of all people. He was big and thick, gray...
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