Fireflies, Fistfights, and Arm Farts by Gene Strother growing up in smalltown Texas in the late 1960s and early ’70s Read on Substack
Category: Family
Home is where the Hard is: 7 Pillars of a Happy Home
Seven Pillars of a Happy Home was originally shared on LinkedIn as Part Two of a two-part series on the home. Part One on this site can be found here. This is part two of a two-part mini-series on the home. In Part One – Home is Where the Hard Is: Seven Deadly Sins that…
Home is where the Hard is: 7 Deadly Sins that Kill Harmony in the Home
Seven deadly sins that will kill harmony in the home and may derail a marriage… (Originally shared on LinkedIn in my monthly Word Warrior newsletter.) I have been married (to the same person) for over 40 years. Still, I do not speak from authority as much as observation. I have broken enough rules, made sufficient…
Last Night – or – Joy Unconfined
This poem is about dreaming of yesterday, those you love and lose, family, friends, sorrow, and joy unconfined. This poem is mostly about my Mom and the hole she left when she winged her way back to Dad.
Before I forget: living with Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease
Author, speaker, and business leader Gene Strother writes about dealing with Alzheimer’s and dementia in his family and offers advice…
Texas Rangers win the World Series and I keep thinking of Little Granddad
Congratulations to the 2023 World Series champion Texas Rangers. And to us, their longsuffering fans. The 1972 Rangers, a transistor radio, Little Granddad, and me It is the Summer of ’72. I have finally hit double-digits in age. Our family of four is crammed into the cramped quarters of an old wood-framed, pier-and-beam house that…
“Can use Ju Jitsu”: remembering Mom on her 80th birthday
She was born Freda Jo Henager, on October 27, 1943, 80 years ago today. She was the first of five children for William Austin and Nova Dean Henager, and she was the first and last love of my father, William David Strother. She was only 17 when she married David. I was born barely more…
Grave Troubles Be Gone: True Love Never Dies
She’s living proof true love never dies. from Living Proof by Ricky Van Shelton It’s a mystery I can’t explain why,We pay so little heed to the time flying by.It’s a plain simple truth, the surest I’ve knownIt’s a short time here; it’s a long time gone. We’re busy with things that don’t even countNever…
Why Me, Lord: the unexpected theology lesson from Kris Kristofferson
Saying I grew up in a conservative Baptist church is the same kind of understatement as saying Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups®are the perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter. We were suspicious of conservatives who adhered to fewer “standards” than we did…and those standards were high, let me tell you. Why me Lord, what have…
(Not so) Gentle on my Mind
American singer/songwriter, the legendary Glen Campbell reminds us to remember those who suffer with Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Thank God for the Patriarchy and Pocket Knives
“You say ‘Patriarchy’ like it’s a bad thing,” I said. “It is,” he replied. “The age of Toxic Masculinity has come to an end.” “Indicting masculinity because toxic males exist is like blaming pollution on oxygen.” “I don’t know what that means.” “Then ask your Dad.” I am exploring the mental database of distant memories…
PONDERING WHILE WANDERING – SUMMER VACATION 2018 | Part Three: When in Vermont…
Our visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum lasted a couple of hours at most. We wandered back into the postcard-worthy mountain village of Stockbridge, found a little general store that made the best homemade chicken salad sandwich north of Donya’s kitchen, ate our sandwiches in the car in the pouring rain, and planned our trip…
PONDERING WHILE WANDERING – SUMMER VACATION 2018 | Part Two: Norman Rockwell, America! Lost and Found…
After a long and mostly sleepless night, Donya and I woke Sunday morning surprisingly refreshed and resolved to make the most of the next seven days. I had mapped out the places we wanted to visit. First up, Stockbridge, MA, and the Norman Rockwell Museum. America! Lost and Found… Norman Rockwell has always been a…
My Faithful Valentine: a story of love
Last night Donya asked if I remembered what I gave her on that first Valentine’s Day we spent together. I did, sort of. I remembered I gave her a blouse or a dress or some such. (I am sure the mountainous, volatile, protective Tommy Weir was thrilled that the big-eared kid with the silk shirts…
The gospel according to Hank …and Holly
I grew up with a Bible in my hand and big chunks of it systematically planted in my heart and mind. For that, I am grateful. Every sermon I ever heard about the poor, wandering, lost sinner sounded eerily like this: I’m a rollin’ stone all alone and lost For a life of sin, I…
The 60-Year Wedding Anniversary: A Milestone for the Mighty in Love
Tommy and Mary Weir, my in-laws(for 37 years and counting), are celebrating 60 years of marriage this very day. SIXTY! YEARS. This is a milestone not many of us will pass.You gotta get it right if you wanna get it done. To make it 60, you have to marry fairly young and really well and…
Dear Mom, Thanks for the benefit of the doubt
I woke up this morning thinking about my mother…Mom, I call her. I think it was the residual thoughts of a dream I dreamt, but it slipped into the recesses of subconscious and disappeared in the fog of fading memory. I can no longer confirm that I dreamed of her or dreamed at all. At…
A Father’s Day Remembrance: Little Granddad – the dad who almost wasn’t
I have honored the dads in my life just about every year around Father’s Day. My own father, William David Strother, died at age 51, when I was 30 and left a million memories of my childhood and a million more what-ifs behind. My wife’s father, Thomas Henry Weir, now 80 and still spry, still…
18…Again – A note to my firstborn on the 18th anniversary of her 18th birthday
A few days ago, my ever-so-curious and talented son-in-law Edward Frys discovered a long-forgotten and deeply buried treasure of floppy disks bearing assorted thing I had written and saved over the years. I had not seen them or anything on them in 15 years or so. Among the digital cobwebs on these vintage computer disks…
A Handmaid’s Tale: Looking into the “Martha Syndrome”
Confession: This has nothing to do with the sordid tale of the popular book or mini-series by this name, as the subtitle of the article surely reveals. Instead, I use “handmaid” as it was commonly used in Bible times as that of a female servant. Moreover, I use it the way traditional writersused “man” or…