I told my Sweet Al, "To live in a bubble in this day and age would be easier, but we can't. We must live in the real world and stay connected with our grandchildren. This gives them the freedom to come to us with their crazy wild ideas. Even if their ideas are not of our choosing, we must be cheerleaders for them." The way we can stay current is to keep moving forward with the next generation and the things they are facing. Moving forward, but staying anchored, with our beliefs and without compr…

I love Pagosa. Our little town is not like some of the others around the state. We still have a hometown feel. I don’t want to lose our family-friendly place. We are free from the pretentious trappings of the big city. I saw a woman step out of her shiny clean Cadillac wearing diamonds and pajamas. By the looks of her clean car, she is definitely a visitor. So, what am I saying? Pagosa is who we are. I love that our little town has an unpretentious way about it. But there are limits. I have to d…

April 1, 1960, 18 and my Sweet Al, 24, we had no idea what we were doing or saying. Sixty-four years later, we have changed, but some things have remained the same as when we stood before the preacher and said, “I do.” We made the decree back then, “What is mine is yours, and yours is mine.” Those words might sound old-fashioned today, but they have come to fruition and are more real than we could ever imagine. What does “I do” mean today? It surely doesn’t mean all that I thought it would back …

The search started with a punchline. My daughter said to me, “I was trying to remember the joke we always told in the family: Hit the ball and drag Joe.” She said, “I went to Google search and typed in the punchline and the joke came up.” “You’ve got to be kidding.” “I’ll show you.” There it was. The joke. “One Saturday Bob came home tired and disgusted. His wife asked him, ‘How was your golf game?’ “Bob said, ‘The worst game of golf ever. We got to the first tee, Joe hit a hole in one and drop…

My daughter came home with sermon notes from Sunday church. She read them to me. I stopped her at the first point. “Wow. This is what I’ve been saying. Christians are the moral conscience of this country.” I felt like I was being a fuddy-duddy and old-fashioned, but we are responsible to others for our actions. A trip to Arizona put things in perspective for me. I watched people interact with service people — the rudeness they showed to those who waited on them. Leaving their trash on the table …

The phone rang. Our children invited us to go to Arizona with them. It would be a quick trip, four days, lots of fun, great food, fix my Sweet Al’s hearing aids, celebrate my grandson’s birthday and get a pedicure. Our daughter had me at pedicure. I said, “Yes, we’ll go.” “We’ll pick you and Daddy up at 7 a.m. Thursday morning.” At 3 a.m. Thursday morning, my Sweet Al woke up excited. He got ready to go, dressed with his coat and shoes on. Woke me up at 3:30. “You’re going to be late. Get up.” “…