Dear Detroit Lions, I wanted to drop you a note. Since being squeezed out into St. John’s Labor and Delivery on a sweltering Detroit spring day in 1962, I have been loyal to this franchise. Growing up in Detroit, there aren’t any choices in team alliance. My blue-collar grandfather, the…

Venice Beach CA, 2014 To arrive on the westside of Los Angeles before the traffic becomes a tourniquet, you must leave your house before the Hollywood vampires hit their sheets. Even at 4:30 AM, the busy highway is full of tired people going nowhere fast. After three decades of working out, I still wake with the same mindset. I never regret going on a hike in the mountains or to the gym. Both religious sanctuaries leave me refreshed and able to handle another day on this earth.

Tent Life Equador, 1994 My rancid breath violently wakes me. Encapsulated in my greasy sleeping bag for the last month, I squeeze my oily head out of the womb-like tent opening. The biting wind blinds me through closed eyes. What time is it, or even what day? …

Chicago, 1986 In the fall of 1986, my future wife walked through the front door and over my toxic muscularity. Cynthia’s blonde hair, Jane Fonda body, and movie star appeal instantly stole my heart. I was forever hers. …

On August 27th, 1936, Pauline Cales was born in Frostburg, Maryland, a pleasant town nestled in the lush green Cumberland Mountains. After a long and fruitful life she went home to rest in the arms of the Lord on July 1, 2022, in Wayland, Michigan. The second child of Paul…