fascinating how birds and lizards arose from the same reptile family the hollow-boned developed feathers and with lightness took to the air while the heavier-boned continued to drag bellies and slither over the ground I enjoy both, though I’m grateful that birds were the ones to learn singing a tune coming out of a leathery throat would be worse than the worst shower singer anyone’s heard

to those of you married or bound in any long-term significance I have a question: How often do you say “thank you” to your other half for efforts made for the benefit of both? I absorbed manners at a young age and historically repeat those words to pourers of waters, holders of doors, answerers of questions, anyone that’s helpful but with my spouse and all the little things we do for each other, a thank you for those efforts can feel redundant, unnecessary and is often

I wanted to be like Papa, my father’s father, when I reached his age a slicked-back side hair man, bright and fun with a laugh that echoed through my young soul after he passed, a revelation Dr. Alonzo Drew Hunter had had a twenty-year affair with his dental hygienist Grandma spent many a Christmas and New Year’s Eves, countless Friday and Saturday night’s alone and I can’t imagine how many times she swallowed her heart and felt it digest in the acid of infidelity