Dearest Rachel – Standing out in the parking lot, waiting for the parents to arrive on a Wednesday evening, listening to the chorus of cicadas in the hot summer air, I feel like I should be telling you about my day – or at least starting in on the story, as things are about toContinue reading “A Whole Lot of Nothing”
Tag Archives: commitments
Starting Out Slow
Dearest Rachel – Six-thirty. It’s not exactly early here, but enough that I might be able to amble over to the gym and put in an hour before going through my usual routine of getting myself ready before heading for the ‘office.’ I’ve even got most of the energy I’d need to do just that,Continue reading “Starting Out Slow”
Hither, Thither & Yon, Esq.
Dearest Rachel – In fairness, I can’t remember if Walt Kelly wrote about the team of Hither, Thither and Yon as a legal firm, or a trio of baseball players whose double-play performance rivaled that of Tinker, Evers and Chance (although from a historical standpoint, the three famous Cubs weren’t really all that great atContinue reading “Hither, Thither & Yon, Esq.”
A Chance to Hit the Town
Dearest Rachel – For all that, when I’m wandering around some foreign land (or even just another city here in the States – the last time I caught myself saying this was when Daniel and I were crisscrossing Boston), I find myself thinking that I should devote a little more attention to the sights ofContinue reading “A Chance to Hit the Town”
Starting in the Dark
Dearest Rachel – It’s been decided, at least by me – and when I’m the one driving, that’s basically the one opinion that matters. We’ll be heading downstate one last time on Saturday (although who knows if Ellen will need more help with her mom’s old townhome, as she and her sisters wind up theContinue reading “Starting in the Dark”
孝道的限度 (The Limits of Xiào)
Dearest Rachel – I don’t claim to be a student of Confucianism by any stretch of the imagination, but I am passingly familiar with at least one tenet of the philosophy? …religion? I’m not even entirely sure as to which it really is. Both are a means to guide behavior in the present world; whileContinue reading “孝道的限度 (The Limits of Xiào)”
Answering the Door
Dearest Rachel – There are times when I think our tendency to answer the door (or the phone, for that matter) when it rings is a mistake born out of politeness. It’s common courtesy to respond to a knock on the door, or a ring of the doorbell; that’s why you have them. But itContinue reading “Answering the Door”
A Little More Sun
Dearest Rachel – It would seem that this morning exercise routine, reluctant though I am to follow it, is something of a self-perpetuating cycle. I put in some seven-plus miles on the treadmill yesterday, and by nine o’clock, I was as ready to fall asleep in my chair than actually bother with watching another videoContinue reading “A Little More Sun”
Not Much to Tell, No Time to Tell It
Dearest Rachel – It seems weird to say that today is likely to be the most routine day of the week. After all, the whole point of the weekend is that it is different from the rest of the week; a respite from the hurly-burly of workaday life. But when one’s day-to-day is no longerContinue reading “Not Much to Tell, No Time to Tell It”
A Full Dance Card
Dearest Rachel – I was never the type who would have felt comfortable at a cotillion. Not only was dancing long disapproved of by my extended (and church) family – “a vertical expression of a horizontal desire,” it was described as, and given how I’ve often pointed out how my name is frighteningly apt, I wouldn’tContinue reading “A Full Dance Card”
Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Dearest Rachel – Lewis Carroll’s Red Queen claimed that she prided herself on believing “six impossible things before breakfast.” I’m not nearly so ambitious, honey – indeed, I rarely bother to try to believe the impossible at all, let alone so many such things at once – but just for today, it seemed like IContinue reading “Impossible Things Before Breakfast”
Commitment Kept
Dearest Rachel – This is something I hardly need to tell you, as you always meant what you said when you said it, but… one must never make an offer to someone that one isn’t prepared to back up. Now, this isn’t to mean that I have just done this; when I got the textContinue reading “Commitment Kept”
So Why Make the Offer in the First Place?
Dearest Rachel – For all that I’ve been saying that every day this week was going to be a little unusual – at least, insofar as none of them have been a typical ‘9 to 5’ day at the ‘office’ – that hasn’t proven to be quite true. Today is actually likely to be aContinue reading “So Why Make the Offer in the First Place?”
Letters to Rachel 