The words my high-school guidance counselor spoke to me that day stung! They insulted me and, at the same time, inspired me. Tears burned my eyes while a passion to push back filled my heart. Mr. Hill looked over the top of his glasses and then over the top of the folder containing my subpar grades. The reflective tale was one of four years that my long-time friend ADHD and I had wasted.

The world we live in uses four-letter words, like a fish uses water. Slang expressions are carelessly fluent and overly abundant. To the sensitive, these crass enunciators are offensive. If you are like me, you're always asking, "What is the necessity of this redundant profanity in this context?” We undoubtedly conclude the same answer- "I don't know"!

Her feathered landing was as soft and gentle as a lunar astronaut. Her decision-making was much more conclusive and abrupt! Only ten feet from where I stood, a hungry barn swallow planted her feet, hovered over her options for lunch, turned her head this way and then that, with one sweep of her beak…

So many folks, not up before dawn, often miss the soft and dappled light show on the eastern horizon. The sky transitions from a deep grey blue to a brighter and lighter blue. And, when blue cannot hold on any longer, it surrenders to pale and then golden orange.

His khaki shirt boasted salt rings—a crusted residual from perspiration earlier in the day. The center of his back was brown and soaked. I’m sure it was wet under his arms as well, but from my view walking behind him, all I could see was a big wet circle on his lean and leathery upper torso. That dark circle of moisture at my eye level became my target for the day. My grandfather was a hard worker and was showing me how at the same time.

At the dead-end of a rutted and potholed gravel road, I behold the resilient but worn home of my upbringing. The sagging roof, shifting boards, and dormant flowers echo the passage of time, marking the waypoints of my life's journey