Celebrating Kelly … and cowering from the crowd

May 19, 2019

I can’t tell you how proud I am of my niece Kelly. But I’m going to try anyway. Since she was just a wee little lass with those huge blue eyes and that Shirley Temple-esque curly blonde hair, that girl has been making me smile. Just like her brother and little cousin. Those three are the sun, moon and stars on the Marinucci side of the house, capisce? #Fam I digress. Since becoming a young woman, Kelly, who’s also my goddaughter, has continued to make me proud. She’s also made me think ... and reflect ... and laugh. Like, a ton. This is a girl I’d befriend even if we ...

Every mom’s a gem, but mine’s the most precious

May 12, 2019

“Friends” may well have been the best sitcom to come out of the 1990s. IMHO. I loved those six fictional pals and my real ones will tell you that I can quote any scene from any episode with total recall. A favorite is the one in which Monica and Chandler break it to the group that they are going to rear their soon-to-arrive baby in the suburbs. Monica explains that they feel moving to a house in a neighborhood is simply the better option for them. “Why can’t you raise the baby in New York City? Lots of people do it. Ross is doing it. I’m doing it. Sarah Jessica Parker’s ...

Don’t spoil ‘End Game’ or I will tell Thor

May 5, 2019

Remember when you were little and couldn’t wait to open your presents on Christmas morning? Man, I can still see the whole scenario in my mind’s eye. Getting up before the sun to race into the living room (that’s what we called it back then) with my siblings. I’m not going to name names, but one of them morphed into Sherlock Holmes from about the time the porch lights went off on Halloween right up to the evening of Dec. 24 each year, trying to find Christmas presents early. This sibling searched under every bed frame, mattress, couch cushion, pillow, blanket and quilt, ...

Searching for time machine to flip-flopping

April 27, 2019

It’s funny how, when you’re young, you want to get old. I mean, you do. It’s natural, really. The humans have even made feature films about it. “Big,” starring a very young Tom Hanks back in 1988, was the story about a 12-year-old boy who, impatient to become an adult after being rejected as too short to ride a carnival roller coaster (those aren’t safe anyway, kiddo), makes a wish through an antique fortune teller machine to be big. The next day, he’s 30. Careful what you wish for children. The concept is so popular that 14 years later, the same story is told in the ...

Pausing to reflect on this Easter Sunday

April 21, 2019

It happened so distantly, That injustice on Golgotha But not an Easter goes by When we don’t relieve the drama. From the Sunday before When the crowds raised palms And sent up “Hurrahs!” And praised high and long. But as the week unfolded He calmly went about The work that He came for Though He must have had doubts. For He was half human Just like you and me. His Father’s from heaven yet His Mom’s mortal, a mere teen, actually. When her whole life got thrown In the blink of an eye, As an angel explained She’d have a baby ... and ...

Dumb overachievers are all pretty annoying

April 14, 2019

Do you know any of those humans who are really great at everything? You know, they try their hand — make that feet — at soccer and excel. Then they use those feet to run track a few years later and qualify for junior high champs. All the while, they’ve been intermittently swimming and decide that THAT will be their sport of choice — and proceed to smash pool records in high school and college. Oh, and they also become the valedictorian and win a bunch of art awards, to boot. Oooh, then there’s also that whole, “I can play music by ear. Maybe I’ll write a few songs?” ...