12/28/2020 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” Chapter 28 “ B-U-T-T” (I promise) By Bruce Williams My two sisters and I all took piano lessons at our instructor Mai Lin’s house.  I hated it.  While one sibling was in with Mai Lin, plinking away as she patiently winced at each misstruck key, I and one of…

12/21/2020 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” Chapter 27 “The Magic of Christmas” By Bruce Williams Christmas was always magical when I was a little kid.  My older sister Lisa was always the first one up on Christmas morning—usually around a roostery 5:00 a.m.  She’d head down and empty her stocking and the little open box…

12/14/2020 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” Chapter 26 “My Top 5 Christmas Movies” By Bruce Williams Narrowing it down to just five favorite Christmas movies might seem easy on its surface, but when other people started weighing in convincingly with their opinions and picks, I had to stop and ponder it a little bit.  I…

12/7/2020 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” Chapter 26 “How the ’80’s Wrecked ’70’s Rock Bands” By Bruce Williams My wife and I have this ongoing debate—she loves all things ‘80’s; the movies (The Goonies, Adventures in Babysitting), the music, all the cheesy schlock.  I berate the pastel colors, the big hair, the leg warmers, the…

11/30/2020 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” Chapter 25 “Ads Shmads” By Bruce Williams I’m convinced corporate America doesn’t understand social media.  For instance, Crest has a Facebook page.  The toothpaste.  What more could you possibly want to know about Crest?  You put it on your tooth brush and smoosh it across your teeth.  Then you…

11/23/2020 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” Chapter 24 “Puberty” By Bruce Williams Puberty has come unbeckoned to the Williams household in the form of greasy hair, pimples and body odor.  Now 14 and 11, our kids are becoming these alternating mercurial and sullen strangers, eaters of entire pizzas and capable of storming out of the…

11/16/2020 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” Chapter 23 “Our House” By Bruce Williams So, we’re putting our house of 15 years up for sale—cleaning out every cobwebbed corner, dejunking every drawer, steaming carpets, puttying screw holes and the like.  It’s so clean and like-new now that I’d almost like to live there again.  If the…

11/9/2020 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” Chapter 22 “A Tough Talk” By Bruce Williams Recently, faced suddenly with the tragedy of a suicide in our family, I was stationed outside my daughter’s hair appointment waiting for her to finish—replacing my distraught wife who had just found out that she’d lost her older brother in such…

11/2/2020 “That Got Me To Thinkin’…?” Chapter 21 “Married Dates” By Bruce Williams When you have two kids and a dog, there’s not a lot of opportunities to get away with your significant other for an adult vacation…you know—without a Nickelodeon-themed anything or cheese pizzas for every meal, let alone a date if you don’t…