Missing What Never Was
It was January in Murtaugh, Idaho. The cornfield beside me had surrendered its crop months earlier; frost took what remained. The ground was hard, and the air hurt if I breathed too deeply. The sky was stripped of color, a…
Essays
The Weight and the Mercy
Three days of rain in New Harmony looks different than rain anywhere I’ve lived. The valley doesn’t get storms so much as it receives them, like someone handing you a heavy box that catches you off guard. 5.15 inches fell…
Willpower Whiplash
I woke up this morning and everything hurt. My head, my back, my hips, my knees. You know, the usual suspects. I’m heavier than I’ve ever been, which feels strange to admit because I can still outdistance most people I…
The Music Carries the Weight of Everything
For as long as I can remember, orchestral movie scories have just hit different with me. One random Tuesday afternoon, shortly after I started my own business, I was sitting at my computer working through a complex issue for a…
Why We Miss the People Worth Listening To
For decades, I’ve ignored some of the best advice I was ever given, and it came in my early twenties. I ignored it because the man who shared it spoke so quietly you could almost mistake what he said for…
How to Win Arguments by Being Wrong
This is satire. Mostly. Kind of. I remember the good ol’ days of political debates when the candidates told us what they stood for. Now, they mostly just tell us what the other person doesn’t stand for while calling them…
What I Learned Writing for Change (Literally)
It’s not every month I get an email from Medium congratulating me on my “monthly earnings.” Most months the number isn’t quite enough to cover a trip to Del Taco, but if I budget carefully, I think I could afford…
I’m Still Learning How to Rest
I got up from my desk to use the restroom. That’s all I meant to do. But the moment I stepped in, I realized there was no toilet paper, which sent me to the storage closet, which is always overstuffed…
This One Was Supposed to Be a Break
I wasn’t planning on writing today. I said that out loud in the kitchen-turned-office. It felt dramatic, considering nobody was there. Just my old, beat-up chair. After nine months of writing, the businesses, and the book, I figured I earned…
The Recovery Period for a Serial Essayist
I’m genuinely bugged by “ad supported” streaming services. I pay for Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, and I still get ads. So, when the commercial break hit, it startled me. It came out louder than it had any right to…
You Don’t Have to Escape to Be Free
The screen on my laptop glows in front of me. At the top sits an image of a single boot print pressed into soft soil. The sun isn’t visible, but I can tell it’s rising up ahead by the way…
Making Time to Claim Your Own Unique Experience
Last evening, I rummaged through the laundry basket sitting on my bed. I knew my wife would get around to folding it eventually. There was a time when I would have felt obligated to drop what I was doing and…
What You Choose to Remember
This afternoon, I opened the “office drawer” in my kitchen looking for tape. I pushed aside this weird metal bracket that’s been in there for as long as I can remember. There’s a tangle of old charging cords that don’t…
Maybe It Was Never Wasted
This morning, I sat at my desk longer than I needed to. That’s the tenor of most days. But today, I wasn’t working. I was just sitting. As almost always happens at the start of my day, the house was…
Letting Go Without Losing Yourself
I love red. I have eight T-shirts hanging in my closet that are red. Some have print on them. Others are plain. The oldest one is my working-in-the-yard shirt. The collar’s stretched, it’s stained with oil, and there’s a small…
