Category Archives: Stories to Read

Book, Love's Amazing Grace - Sample, Stories to Read

Haunting Memories

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Excerpt from Love’s Amazing Grace

airplane “That little tail hook is supposed to slow your jet and help it stop, but you must have lost it in combat.”

“Don’t know. Only know it was gone,” Jack chuckled.

“Your bomber ran smack-dad into all the docked planes before it stopped and you couldn’t aim it any other direction. What an explosion! Started several planes on fire, including yours. Made Captain Buckmaster a little upset.”

“More than a little upset,” Jack slapped his knee. “Thought I was headed straight into the ocean.”

“You’re lucky we got you out in time. You could have been burnt to a crisp.”

Jack suddenly turned somber, his quirky grin gone. “Yeah. I know.”

“It had to be really scary,” said one of the guys. “Bombs exploding and planes shooting at you.”YorktownBombed-1942

Both men nodded. “We thought we were going to die out there,” Jack admitted. Continue reading Haunting Memories →

Memoirs, Stories to Read

Are you a Coddiwompler?

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I half-expected to see Big Foot or at least some giant bug appear behind one of the ancient, giant trees. Everything was so huge. I felt so small.

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Coddiwompler. “One who travels in a purposeful manner toward a vague destination.”   Love that word. It made me think of my recent trip to California and the stroll along Walker Road near the Jedidiah Smith State Park.

The scenery is breath-taking. The Redwoods are enormous along with everything else.  The plan was to go around the path which looped back to the car. We had a purposeful manner – but I had never been on this path before. As we walked and talked, we went deeper and deeper into the forest, amazed by all the beautiful foliage. After close to an hour of walking, we began to see sights that we’d seen before.

“Haven’t we seen that tree before?” I asked her. 20160816_100820

“Hmmm…maybe.”

We walked a few minutes farther. “Yep. Seen that one too.”

We were lost.

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Well now, we weren’t really lost. The loop had to go back to the parking area eventually; there were just too many turnoffs and side paths.

Which way was back? We had a vague destination in mind, and we were definitely coddiwompling to get there. Eventually (two hours later?) we saw a parked truck which made me think of a Jurassic Park scene. At least we were headed the right way.

ferns (1)I would guess there’s a bit of coddiwompler in all of us.We think we have a destination in mind, but it may be a little vague and unsure.  Life is like that too, isn’t it?  

I guess I’d rather be purposeful with my steps toward a definite destination in mind. Wouldn’t you?