Well, you’ve blundered into the good old potpourri category with the wickedly descriptive title: “Stories”. Abandon all hope. I wish I could tell you that these things had an underlying theme or that they were well-thought out missives with a directed purpose. They’re not. They’re the goofy ideas I had when I saw some probably completely unrelated situation or had some random thought while I showered or who knows what? They come from all over and to be completely honest I’ve been accumulating them for at least the last 20-odd years. If anything they have a more philosophical bent but please don’t come looking for anything too deep. I’m just not that. I like to delve (there’s an antiquated word for you, could almost be a first name, Delve Williams PhD.) into big topics, life stuff and kick things around. My hope is that you’ll get something out of them. And if you do find a theme or a salient point, please let me know. I’d like to hear just how these things made sense. Thanks.

Good Advice for a Friday

At least I hope it’s good

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The Math

Lost like Bost and Hilbert and Jacobson

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What If?

An old friend kicked this bucket over for me. Thanks a lot!

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The End of the Fair

Even if you’re not a farm kid, you’ve been there

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Therapeutic Weeding

I don’t want to overstate it but this is the key to life

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The Cheese Stands Alone

This gets to the soft, squishy center of a lot of things

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The Penny and the Bauble

A study in contrasts just lying around

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Whatever Bingo

This game of chance they were playing never seemed to pay off

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In Box Insanity

Identifying some of these nutcases is the first step to dealing with them

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No kind of answer and a lie

When you can”t come up with anything…

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Kicked out (part 2)

Another “chance” meeting

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Kicked Out

Careful who you eat a sandwich with

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Why we shiver when we pee

And how looking for the answer might save your mind

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Snowfall

Unique and beautifully unexplained

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My people

Time is an ugly and a beautiful thing

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Kids are sticky

And you had trouble with “moist.” Please.

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Let’s make this work

On second thought, let’s not; that was never the intention

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Wreckage

What’s burning just outside your door? And what’s that smell?

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Tell me a Little More

No details doesn’t mean no devil

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Other Arrangements

As soon as you think you know someone…

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Further Arrangements

Contingencies, contingencies…

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Being the Bass

Support is never glamorous

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Arrangements

Being prepared isn’t just for Boy Scouts

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Drug Seeker

The numbers are always deadly

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Sandwich Disgrace

Turns out revenge is best served cold and between two slices of bread

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Cabin Water

A simple glass of water never tasted so good or satisfied so well

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The Introvert’s Calculus

He realized how much of a nerd this made him but he didn’t care.

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A Little Discussion about Death

And frankly, why it pisses me off

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The Christmas Aftermath

Navigating the minefield week between Christmas and New Years is never easy

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The GOAT

Sometimes salvation comes in the most unlikely form

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I Saw Mommy

Never under estimate the magic of Christmas or the power of a kiss

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A Real Christmas

Defining the season had never been so important

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Fraud

Fooling all of the people some of the time

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A Wedding’s Purpose

Re-visit, Re-mind, Re-new

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A Question of Commitment

Do you want to dance or do you want to be a dancer?

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Sweat the Small Stuff

With apologies to Richard Carlson, I just see things a little differently

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We all need someone to sing to

Physically, emotionally and relationally; whether literally or figuratively

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Extrapolation

Many are the perils of applying mathematics to relationships.

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Good Night, Irene

A high school coach gave me a little glimpse into what adulthood was really like

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Hugs, Holding on and knowing why you’re Here

With my hands full of pillow, my arms full of child and my heart full of love I struggled to the door. It had been another long road trip back home from seeing family.

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We Need to go Hungry for a While

What we need in this country is a good ol’ famine

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Be Careful with a Cough

And other things I learned having a colonoscopy

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This is a Bad Idea

Describing what it’s like being depressed is like trying to nail jello to the wall

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I Know a Guy

It’s been my honor to have known this man just a little

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Where Seldom is Heard

An encouraging set of words, actually, have stuck with me all these years.

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5 Reasons Why You may be Hung up on Numbered Lists

The self-help guys are gonna hate me for this one

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Seeing Beauty in our Brokenness

What do we see when we look at difficulties in our lives or the lives of others?

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How Did I Get Here?

Apologies to The Talking Heads; I can’t seem to get their song out of my head.

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TOO MUCH STUFF!!!

I’m just spazzing out to the max about all the crap we have in our possession

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Lessons we can Learn from the Young

We should learn a thing or two from children so we can model a thing or two for them.

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What’s Moving you Today?

A little church crowd observation exemplifies a larger truth.

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At Least They Found the Body

Death strikes at some elemental parts of the way we think.

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Seize the Day Today

How I came to the conclusion that some day should be to day.

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Work

Ever ask yourself, how did I get here? What do I do now that I realize where I am and where do I go from here?

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Here I am

The more things change, the more they don’t

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Identity

Sometimes comments made in passing carry more weight than we know.

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Thank You

An elemental part of our training in politeness has fallen on hard times.

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Family Man 

Sometimes the lesson learned is not perpetuating the behavior.

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Red light/Green light

“Parents aren’t around as much, there’s a lot more “hanging out in town,” and it creates money issues”-marketing tagline

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The love look

Turns out, Dusty Springfield was onto something in 1967.

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The Stone in my psyche

The answer to the question: “Can we talk?” should always be, “Yeah, we should.”

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Maryanne

An unexpected kiss in high school still has a lot to teach me.

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Circular

Sometimes it’s a long route to come back to where you started.

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Wade and Myron

I learned a lot in school but nothing more important than the lesson I got about people when I was in eighth grade.

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Marriages and Weddings

Weddings and marriages are both projects but probably not something we should compare.

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Banana Apocalypse 

No need for fanfare, disaster has been quietly averted. You’re welcome

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Different 

Our church started a program a few years ago where they encouraged us to choose one word to focus on for the year. The following is a midyear report I was asked to give on my “one word” for 2016.

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The Power of Three Dots

Ellipses, those three dots we sometimes end a statement with, whether printed or spoken, throw the doors open wide and then…

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Some Christmas Absolutes

When you’ve been through as many Christmases as I have the clues that it’s that time of year are pretty hard to miss.

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Lightbulb Moments: An Old Guy Mission Statement 

Admitting my wasteful ways, I resolve not to let further opportunities slip into the abyss.

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The Church Singer

At weddings the groomsmen leave their tuxes hanging on their chairs during the reception. Old guys like me don’t take ours off.

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Pairing Up and Small Groups

Today’s trip back in time to the land of 13 years old is sponsored by our partners Teen Angst and Team Awkward. The bitterness and amazement are thrown in for free.

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Changed

Sometimes we get ourselves into situations that aren’t at all what we’re cut out to do or what we expected and they end up being highly educational.

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Marriage: More than saying “I do”

Successful marriages are far from a straight-line path to bliss. They require constant nurturing and saying “I do” over and over.

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Part of the Team

At 16 I learned about putting forth an image and how the public one doesn’t always equal the one people don’t see.

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MAKING TIME

The amount of time we have to do the things we really want to do depends on how much time we create.

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The Peril of Dreams

Dreams are an elemental part of being human. We hold and identify them as our own despite being harassed on multiple sides.

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The Mathematics of Love

On the surface math and love wouldn’t seem to mix but if you look at their properties you’ll see there’s a lot of the one in the other.

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Negotiated Personalities

Do we barter for who we’ll end up being like trading 3 Skittles for 1 Starburst? (Which is a universal conversion by the way)

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FRIENDSHIP: The Sum of Nothing

Friendships, especially between men, are built from seemingly small, inconsequential things over time.

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Selling Cows

Banished to the couch because I crossed a line, I realize change can’t be resisted or undone whether it’s growing up or selling cows.

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A Community of Storytellers

Before twitter, before Facebook, before the internet, even before books (imagine that) historical tales, family history and the stories of entire peoples were passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth.

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