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There comes a day in every man’s life when he stops looking forward and starts looking back. —Maxwell Hill
We think we have control over our lives, especially when we’re young and seemingly invulnerable. We’re told we can do anything we set our minds to, that the world is our oyster, that all we have to do is shuck the hard shell and pluck the rich, nourishing meat inside. I realize now, however, that the shell is a lot harder than I appreciated, and that I never could have controlled or even predicted the things that would happen in my
We believe we choose the paths we take when we come to those forks in our lives—the friends we make, the careers we undertake, the spouses we marry.
Life is either a collision of random events, like billiard balls during a break careening off and into one another, or if you are so inclined to believe, our predetermined fate—what my mo...
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“Two eyes, two ears, ten fingers, ten toes, and a nose. Perfect.” And that was her final word on the subject.
“These things have a way of working themselves out, Sam. No use rocking the boat—you only take on more water.”
Our skin, our hair, and our eyes are simply the shell that surrounds our soul, and our soul is who we are. What counts is on the inside.” “People don’t make fun of what’s on the inside,” I said. She sighed. “People make fun of things they don’t understand.”
“Never be afraid to tell the truth, Sam. Not to the people who love you.”
It takes a big man to stand up to a bully and an even bigger man to take it.”
“Any man can raise his fists and fight. But it takes a special kind of man to take his beating without complaint, to not rat out another to save himself.”
“Dearest father in heaven, bless this child and bless this day of new beginnings. Smile upon this child and surround this child, Lord, with the soft mantle of your love. Teach this child to follow in your footsteps, and to live life in the ways of love, faith, hope, and charity.”
“We both know who wears the pants in my house, if I choose to wear pants at all. I have committed to nothing, and I am the king of my castle!”
“You know your mother and I don’t keep secrets from each other, Sam. But maybe I just won’t bring it up.”
“Life is about heart. Yours is as big as any kid’s I’ve ever coached. Don’t you ever forget that.”
“Don’t ever think of yourself as being something less than the person you are because of your eyes, Sam. If you do, people will take advantage of it, and you’ll find yourself doing things you don’t want to do.”
Reality could be painful to acknowledge, but there came a point when we all realized we weren’t going to walk on the moon, star in a Hollywood movie, or be president of the United States. We’d be who we were, and we could either come to grips with this fact and like the person we’d become, or live with regret and disappointment.
“Time is wicked. It comes and goes like a thief in the night, stealing our youth, our beauty, and our bodies.”
My relationship with him was different. He’d raised me to be a man, and he was proud of me. But to my mother—I suspect to all mothers—their little boys will always be their little boys, no matter how old those boys become.
recall this moment as the moment I became a man. It had not been my first beer or hangover, or the first time I’d gotten laid, as I had thought. It had not even been earlier that day, when I’d tossed my blue graduation cap into the air. It was the moment my mother needed me, and I was there for her.
For better or for worse—and too often it is for worse for so many of us—adulthood had arrived, whether I wanted it to or not.
There are moments, I believe, when we are capable of communicating with those we love without using our voices, moments when we think of someone and the phone rings, or we speak the person’s name and suddenly they are standing beside us.
