“Excuse me, but may I ask you a very strange question?” The lady, deeply distracted, looked up, “Sure,” she replied. “I’ve been standing on the outside of this glass door watching you….
Category: Editorials
Emerald’s Gem Box: Why I do what I do … I want to help change the world; or, at least my corner of it.
One year ago, I wrote a column entitled “I want to change my corner of the world.” Those words seem to best describe why I love the newspaper business. We all have…
From the sunny side: It’s that time of year
Something significant happened this morning. Actually, it happened yesterday morning as well. The temperature dipped below 50 degrees. That may not mean much to most of y’all. In fact, I don’t expect…
Letter to the Editor
Today marks my 60th Thanksgiving, having arrived at the greatest country ever in 1961. I am grateful to all Americans, the most generous people in the world. I have friends on the…
Learning As I Go: Playing in the mud
“Mama, come over here,” my oldest beckoned from the playground. “I’m in the middle of something, what do you need?” I yelled across the yard. “You’ve gotta’ come over here and touch…
Letter to the Editor: Camp Cherry Lake modernization is desperately needed
I’ve spent the last 40 years fighting crime in Madison County with badge and book. I’ve arrested people when I had to, but I prefer teaching trades and other paths to lawful…
From the sunny side: Being sentimental
Please don’t tell any of my co-workers, but there are some occasions when I become a sentimental old sap. I usually do a pretty good job of hiding it and I am…
Learning As I Go: Help in disguise
It wasn’t particularly late when I pulled up in my yard. I stood outside a minute and looked at the star-studded sky, then climbed my front steps onto the porch. My husband…
Emerald’s Gem Box: Happy Birthday Kennedy
This Sunday, Oct. 17, will mark the third birthday of my granddaughter, Kennedy! What a true blessing the last three years have been. When I had my children, I did not really…
From the sunny side: A scooter fund
First of all, I do want to go on the record as saying that I really do enjoy my job. Probably one of the things I enjoy the most is going to…
Learning As I Go: Don’t eat that! It’s poisonous
“Don’t eat that! It’s poisonous,” I yelled across the playground. “They aren’t poisonous,” the second-grade boy told me, “I eat them all the time. See,” and he popped a shelled acorn into…
From the sunny side: Girls and the weather
This time of year, I’m always baffled by the behavior of the weather. It seems as if every year, at this time, the weather tends to tease us with what it wants…
From the sunny side: The boy in the bubble
I saw a movie several years ago about a kid who had a rare auto-immune disease that made it very dangerous for him to even walk outside his house. The slightest little…
Emerald’s Gem Box: Children learn what they live
I was talking to a teenager the other day, and she was telling me how when she gets in trouble, at home, she gets slapped. I was horrified. I know this seems…
From the sunny side: Dedication or commitment?
I am frequently reminded of just how blessed I was to be Pat Patrick’s son. The older I get, the more I value the lessons, stories and values he passed along to…
Learning As I Go: The ‘Land of What Ifs’
“No, stop right there. We aren’t even going there,” my husband stopped my youngest in midsentence. “Well, why not?” “Because that’s not real. You are living in the ‘Land of What Ifs.’…
Emerald’s Gem Box: This IS about freedom
“This is not about freedom or personal choice. It is about protecting yourself and those around you” – President Joe Biden – Sept. 9, 2021 Let me repeat that … “This is…
From the sunny side: And the dancers danced on
It doesn’t take much more than a passing glance at any of the news channels to come to the realization that the world is in a mess. We have a nasty virus…
From the sunny side: I feel great
There are times when I feel my age. Other times I feel someone else’s age. Most of the time I’m not quite sure what age I should feel. Like I told one…
Learning As I Go: Made new
Five years ago, my husband and I spent eight months carefully tearing down an old church building, trying to salvage all the usable wood for our future home. That eight-month stretch was…