Maybe it was the chocolate lab puppy. Perhaps it was the parrot.
No one seems to remember exactly what it was about the bachelor who moved into the townhouse next door that first attracted the attention of three inquisitive kids.
All in Holidays
Veterans Day: USS Indianapolis Survivor
Felton J. Outland has never read a book about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during World War II.
He's seen almost nothing that Hollywood has made of one of the ugliest episodes in U.S. Naval history.
When people talk about the horror, the sharks, the madness, he turns away.
Still Miss Dad After 23 Years
Dad was generous to a fault with his family and friends, but pinched pennies in unlikely places. He cheerfully paid his taxes, lavished gifts on all of us, donated heavily to charity, but hated road tolls.
Every Day Is Memorial Day In Normandy
As we set out toward Normandy, the teacher stood in the front of the French tour bus and reminded the boys of D-Day in June of 1944. We passed German bunkers. We stopped at Utah Beach. And Omaha.
Then we went to the American cemetery.
All They Want For Christmas Is You
When I arrived, they were thrilled to see me in the way only your parents can be.
Proud To Be An American?
On Independence Day many of us still get goosebumps thinking about the brave signers of the Declaration of Independence who knew they could be signing their own death warrants by committing treason against the crown.
Road Trips With My Father
Together, the Dougherty family set out to see America, while facing their fears and growing stronger.
Think Outward Bound in a battered station wagon.
Unforgettable... My Mother
My mother was unforgettable. This chain-smoking, hardworking, sarcastic bank teller - queen of the drive-in window in our little New Jersey town - provided my brother and me with a cornucopia of memories.
St. Patrick's Day. A Short Story.
For years, I've been offering assorted explanations for why I spent three years in Dublin during the early 1980s: To cover a war without going to the Middle East. To avoid appearing in public in a bathing suit. To cure a case of unsightly hand warts. To date guys with Irish accents.
The list changes but almost always contains a kernel of truth.
It’s George Washington’s Birthday. Not Presidents’ Day.
Big box stores hijacked our first president’s birthday to save space in advertisements. Outrageous.
Flying The Flag For A Friend
On the morning of the Fourth of July, on a leafy side street in Trenton, N.J., a tall, gray-haired man with a mustache will open his front door, step outside and solemnly hang an American flag.
Enough With The Corned Beef And Cabbage
It’s St. Patrick’s Day and I feel it’s my duty to once again remind everyone that corned beef and cabbage isn’t remotely Irish. No one in Ireland eats that slop.
Don't Dis Canned Cranberries
If you’re at my table, you’re getting the canned variety – whole berries in a bowl and the log on a plate.
A Mother's Day Confession
My mother could climb trees, ice skate and walk miles in high heels. There was no way was I letting Superwoman get her hands on me with the worst kind of a confession: A belated one.
Second Chances
“Kerry you have GOT to come downstairs,” she began breathlessly. “Santa ate the cookies and the reindeer ate the carrots!”
A Christmas Hearth
Our childhood home cost my parents $7,000. It didn’t come with a refrigerator, let alone a fireplace.
Provoked Over Peloton?
Hey, it’s Christmas. We need something to unite us in righteous Yuletide indignation.
Thanksgiving. More Than A Chic Centerpiece.
My absolute favorite Thanksgivings were spent at a wobbly card table covered by a freshly ironed bed sheet.
Dad's War Diary
Merchant marines died at a rate of 1 in 26. The highest rate of casualties in any branch of the military. Yet it wasn’t until 1988 the men who served were recognized as veterans of World War II.