I was thinking about my mother and how I ached to hug her. She passed away unexpectedly in March of 2007. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about her. I want to write about her, but it is difficult and, quite frankly, I can’t find the words.
Discover the origins of the Well Kept Men of Misawa! Follow them for a first hand look at the trials, tribulations, fun, laughter, and epiphanies they share together as they navigate everyday life as Americans living in Japan. They are able to have these adventures due to their wives hard work and willingness to let them explore their new surroundings. More adventures are on tap, so stop by often and hang out with them in Japan!
C’mon Dorothy, Never Heard of Kansas?! It was late 1970-something and on my stereo turntable you would often find the rock group Kansas spinning and filling my room with good ol’ homegrown rock-n-roll.
Why “A Thousand Miles from Kansas”? Easy. Dwight Yoakam, South Korea, and a yearning for home.
“Brian, are you okay?” My immediate thought was not again! It was just a few months ago that I untangled my brothers injured and bloodied body from his bicycle on the gravel road leading to Stranger Creek. I immediately covered his wound with my hand and applied pressure to stop the gusher of blood pouring out of his head. “What are you doing? It doesn’t even hurt.” He must have been in shock.
It began as a normal day of exploring on our bicycles. Little did we know that it would turn into a bloody terror.
I wrote an essay titled “Atchison, Kurashiki, and the Moody Blues” (Moody Blues as in missing my Grandma Moody, not the prog rock band…although they rock!). It was published in the Atchison Daily Globe on January 5, 1999. I even found it in the on-line archives of the newspaper! In memory of my Grandma Moody, I now share it with all of you. And how I truly wish the last paragraph was still possible today. I miss you Grandma.
My family moved to a farm in Northeast Kansas when I was in the 2nd grade. That meant a new school and a new mode of transportation to get to school: a big yellow school bus.
Tis the day before Christmas here in Japan. As I looked out at our snow covered lawn, a Spirit of Christmas Past took me on a trip to my family’s first Christmas on our farm. I wrote this account a couple of years ago, but I have made some recent revisions. Merry Christmas!
It has started snowing in Misawa. Yesterday, around eleven in the morning, the snow slowly began to fall. One flake. […]
