“I met her (my wife) at Six Flags. I was playing the arcade and she liked my style, my moves... [laughs] No; I went up there to do caricatures, and she worked there before I did. So, she was my boss, and I guess she still is. The same company owned the caricature rights and …

Continue reading "Painting a Living"

“I had scans done. My arms looked like a junkie, due to all the IVs in my arms. It was Stage 4. That's the worst. That's the endgame, folks. It took a few weeks before STL was able to accept patients (due to the virus), and that was such a defeating experience.  But I dealt, …

Continue reading "Fighting Solo (2 of 2)"

“TL;DR - I got the cancer, yo. “I've been in ‘hiding’ since the end of February. Why? One part was I just got lost in the haze of working and not being able to get out and not wanting to see what all I was missing out on. Another part was getting fired for taking …

Continue reading "Fighting Solo (1 of 2)"

“Very early on I would sit outside, checking in and touching base with people, and we would just have conversations. Everybody has been processing the information differently, and I would liken it to people going through different stages of grief. That’s what we have been observing, and to flesh that out a bit, some people …

Continue reading "Being Intentional"

“I want to improve how humans are treating other humans right now. I think, especially with the civil unrest climate right now, it does tie in with Red Cross, but it's kind of my personal mission, I guess. I’ve had to be kind of an emotional sponge for everybody on my regional team.  Regional is …

Continue reading "Per Humanitatem ad Pacem"

“Right now, to a large degree [my focus] is how do we organize ourselves to see if we can bring students back in the fall semester to the university; to have face-to-face classes, because many students are really missing that. And, well, the faculty miss them, too, and we miss them, too. So, we’re trying …

Continue reading "Navigating a New Future"

“I am glad to be back at work. I was gone for like eight weeks. I painted my living room, my kitchen, my bathroom. Deep-cleaned everything. Went through all my clothes and my shoes. I have a bunch of those ready to donate, but I don’t think Safehouse is taking anything yet, so they’re just …

Continue reading "Staying Productive"

“April 28, 1944. I’m 35 years old, in the belly of a US Navy LST landing ship as part of Exercise Tiger, a D-Day rehearsal. Just after 0200… BOOM! Smoke, confusion, screams, water and fire… A futile scramble to escape. Final thoughts of a wife at home, of family and mother and then… darkness.   …

Continue reading "Worth The Sacrifice"

“My favorite part about the Cape community is the Christmas parade. So many people stand out there and cheer you on even though they don’t know who you are. They see SEMO athletics and cheer on the football team, softball team, soccer team, and all the other teams. It’s amazing hearing them shout for us …

Continue reading "Life Goals (part 2 of 2)"