Moment’s after each Super Bowl, a jubilant football player shouts, “I’m going to Disneyland!” Recently I had an opposite realization.
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.
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: 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.
Playing favorites with everyone
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 11, 2022
Seniors who are witty and sharp as a tack. Who still walk five miles a day. Who always have a nugget of hard-earned wisdom to share. Who have suffered much, but still relentlessly radiate love and positivity.
Our deeper reservoir
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 01, 2020
I’m not an epidemiologist. Or a doctor. Or a calming Zen master, pastor, rabbi or priest. Unfortunately, I can’t create lifesaving vaccines in my garage, or turn my CPAP machine into an improvised...
You can’t take it with
By
Gary Tetz
Oct 24, 2018
Not every long-term care job description comes with the opportunity, or curse, to work after hours. Harried nurses can’t exactly carry a resident home and finish the job on the weekend, for instance...
My gas station utopia
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 20, 2023
Many long-term care administrators know how to foster that kind of environment already, but I might just have to drive the rest of them over to my gas station to observe and somehow assimilate their methods...