Rozey Thorn Trees

So the gentleman in the purple shirt gets up out of his chair, walks over to me, and quietly tells me that by the time the air show begins I need to find another place to stand so that I am not in the way of people sitting around us who have been waiting a long time to see the show.  I look around and note to myself that his argument is invalid: I am not seriously in anyone's way and in a short time there will be many more people standing in this same location. Surely he must be joking. I turn back to him, chuckle, and give him my friendliest "you've got to be pulling my leg" smile. He sits back down in his chair then menacingly says to me, "I'm only going to tell you this one time." My dad standing next to me witnesses the moment. He later asks me why that man singled me out like that. I said I don't know but there have been many times in my life when I've wondered why people have singled me out:  Because I'm in the wrong? Certainly,...

In my bachelor days, whenever I visited new cities, I enjoyed wandering off the beaten paths until lost, then eventually finding my way back to familiarity. I ran into all kinds of conspicuous, quaint, and colorful experiences that I fondly remember. Well, here's a  website game  that scratches that itch... : )

"Parents who view themselves as educational coaches tend to read to their children every day when they are small; when their children get older, they talk with them about their days and about the news around the world. They let their children make mistakes and then get right back to work. They teach them good habits and give them autonomy....They want their children to fail while they are still children. They know that those lessons—about hard work, persistence, integrity, and consequences—will serve a child for decades to come."

“What if you wake up some day, and you’re 65… and you were just so strung out on perfectionism and people-pleasing that you forgot to have a big juicy creative life?” —Anne Lamott

I was lost on a road trip the other day, and without my GPS or phone...Panic! Fortunately, the map I keep in the glove compartment rescued me. I'd forgotten about those adventurous days of giant unfolded maps taking up my passenger seat and dashboard space and the guesswork fun of pencil mazed navigation...

Today I make my annual non-charitable contribution to the Parking Violations Bureau of the City of Traverse City. I knew my meter had run out, but I was out of change, enjoying a brewed coffee in a cushy chair, and finally making work progress. What were the chances that a meter cop would bust me in the 10-minute window before the five o'clock free parking? My cousin in Grand Rapids recently told me that she just adds coins to her parking meter using her phone app. Cool! I looked it up. Apparently, we can do it here in TC, too, at a couple locations: https://parkmobile.zendesk.com/entries/21603354-Traverse-City-MI-Parkmobile-Info

If you're struggling with how to title your life memoirs, this title generating website will mock up a book cover and title for you. I got: "MARK A. ROZEBOOM: COURAGE TO AGITATE." More cheesy than life-affirming, but who knows what you'll get.

My daughter wakes me from my nap with screaming from her bedroom: "Scary! Scary!"  I rush in. "What's wrong!"  "I hear noises!" she says.  I ask, "What noises?"  She makes deep, heaving, guttural sounds. I lie down next to her and quietly shush her, then listen intently for what I suspect to be the usual plumbing sounds from our three-story condo building, or maybe traffic or animal sounds from outside her window.  I hear many sounds, but it's not until she repeats her asthmatic, Darth Vader-like tones that I realize that she is imitating me snoring. I am the one who was making the scary breathing noises.  "You were making the noises, Daddy?"  "Yes, I was snoring."  "Haha, you're silly, Daddy. Please don't make those noises again."  "Ok, honey. I won't. Sweet dreams."  So now I'm wondering if Uncle Henry is to blame for Dorothy's phobia of lions, tigers, and b...

A silent, undisturbed caterpillar Suspended from a branch Hangs motionless Surrounded by the busyness of nature Forgotten Waiting, waiting, waiting For the walls of solitude To fall away O, my Soul, there you hang Alone, shut out from the world Growing, maturing, changing from old habits Till the chains fall off that hold you in place Till the day you soar high and beautiful by Clary Walker II

"If you don't come right now, I will go home and eat your cheesecake!" I said after church desperately, tiredly, hungrily, ashamedly, but, most important, successfully.