Moment’s after each Super Bowl, a jubilant football player shouts, “I’m going to Disneyland!” Recently I had an opposite realization.
The beard is dead. Long live the beard.
By
Gary Tetz
Jul 11, 2024
Imagine you’re an elderly rehab patient, maybe trying to recover mobility after a stroke, and receiving treatment in a long-term care facility. Your therapist is a ferocious taskmaster, constantly...
The saddle in the garage
By
Gary Tetz
Jun 07, 2024
For decades after his last ride, it rested on a sawhorse in a darkened corner of my father’s garage — his favorite Western saddle.
The smiling robot
By
Gary Tetz
May 16, 2024
When I was still a prepubescent boy with many questions, never once did my father take me aside and explain how smiles are made. As a result, I’ve always been a terrible smiler, simply because I never...
Celebrating new love
By
Gary Tetz
Jul 01, 2021
Weddings are always rich in symbolism, but one I attended on a sunny afternoon recently carried far more than usual.
Things I Think | Keep moving forward — It’s the only choice
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 01, 2021
In hiking or life, through any difficulty, there’s only one strategy I’ve ever found that always applies: Keep moving.
Things I think: Sunshine’s dream
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 01, 2012
Margaret was just one of those people. She always wore a smile and a bright yellow sweater, and staff and residents at her assisted living community called her “Sunshine.”
The wisdom of age
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 06, 2017
It’s like a dash of smelling salts under the nose. Talking to actual long-term care residents always affects me like that: an abrupt awakening from the fog and unconsciousness of stress, distraction...
Things I Think: The lessons of autumn
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 05, 2019
Autumn is a time of change. That probably seems trite and obvious, and certainly it’s a trait shared by all the seasons, at least where I live in the Pacific Northwest. But the transitions of fall always...
No-Judgment Day
By
Gary Tetz
Jun 09, 2023
I wouldn’t say mine was a fire-and-brimstone childhood, but I lay awake plenty of nights awaiting the imminent wrath of a vengeful deity. Since then, the concept of judgment has always been top of mind.