Category: We B Late Blog
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George Stephans, Rest in Peace
My father-in-law, George Stephans, died on August 18, after 84 years of living life to the fullest. It was my honor and privilege to write and deliver a eulogy at his funeral on August 24, and I am including the text below essentially as it was presented. If you didn’t know George, you may not…
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Move Over Madonna… Make Way for Gaelic Grammy
There are many sentences I was was sure I would never, ever utter. For example: “Camping is so awesome!” “Turn off that musical! Golf is on!” “If only I could gain some weight.” But here’s why you should never say never, because look at the sentence I’m uttering today: “My music video dropped last week.”…
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My 15 Minutes of Fame
I don’t usually sing in my car. That’s because my radio is almost always** tuned to WGN (720 on your AM dial), a talk station. Which makes it all the more ironic that it was WGN that had me singing in my car on WGN, and then had me driving in my car to WGN…
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“Right is Right, and Wrong is Nobody’s Right”
How fitting that the fourth anniversary of the day my mom died, March 8, 2015, was International Women’s Day, which is set aside to celebrate the achievements of women around the world. And while the world is recognizing the legacies of gals like Sandra Day O’Connor, I’m taking time to reflect on the legacy of…
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A Drive Down Memory Lane
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I’m not talking about in adolescence or high school, when you have to start thinking about it for real. I mean when you were a little kid, and your mind didn’t know yet to censor your imagination. What was that…
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“The Best Cigar I Ever Smoked”
Sorry Fathers; Grandpa Knows Best I see a lot of posts on facebook by my friend Brian Duffy, whom I’ve known since his sister and I met in 5th grade over 45 years ago (yikes, by the way). Many are about our common passion, the Chicago Blackhawks, and there is no shortage of sarcastic and…
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Never Forget
While it’s true that my personal travelogue would be a short presentation indeed, it is also a great illustration of quality versus quantity. For although I haven’t visited nearly the number of places I hope to someday, most of the trips I’ve taken have been extraordinary… including a truly once-in-a-lifetime, unforgettable experience. Our daughter, Sammi,…
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A Chip Off the Old (Writer’s) Block
Promises, Promises Apparently the hotly-contested midterm elections had a profound effect on me. It was right around that time that I took my lead from many of the candidates, and made an empty promise of my own. Two weeks ago, I proclaimed that I would publish two new blog posts each week, and I’ve only…
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A Halloween Postmortem
Halloween was two days ago, which means two things: 1. My sugar hangover is almost gone, and 2. In about 10 minutes it will be Christmas. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because, even though the song is probably already playing on the radio, in my opinion The Most Wonderful Time of the Year…
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Who? What? When? Where? Why? & How?
If you’ve ever taken a journalism class, you know what that headline means. Those are the six questions that every story should answer. Since I promised to tell you in this post what I’d write about, and how often, this seemed like a good way to start. Who? Well, the obvious answer is me, but…