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My senses are strongly connected to my memory. Something as small as a single thought can trigger a vivid recollection. But nothing brings back a memory more intensely than four of our five senses— sound, smell, sight, and taste. Sorry, touch, you’re out of this conversation. When I hear an old song on the radio,Continue reading “Jolly Senses”

As I look at important calendar dates throughout the year— Christmas, Easter, my anniversary, my wife’s birthday, my kid’s birthdays, and home football games— there is one date that I take just as seriously as those, but it never falls on a set day of the week during a specific month. I can almost alwaysContinue reading “Just Peachy”

Eighteen years ago— almost to the day— my wife and I were at the hospital awaiting the birth of our second child, a son. It was one of the greatest days of my life, and at the same time, one of the scariest. He was born on Monday morning June 4th, at 8:08 am. TheyContinue reading “Graduation 2019”

“I think I hear a noisy old John Deere In a field specked with dirty cotton lint And below the field runs a little shady creek And there you’ll find the cool green leaves of mint. Mississippi, you’re on my mind Mississippi, you’re on my mind Oh, Mississippi, you’re on my mind.” – Jesse WinchesterContinue reading “Mississippi On My Mind”

It’s good to be back home in Mississippi. The adjustment period is over. The jet-lag is gone, and I have completely assimilated back into my American work schedule. I just spent a month working in Italy. My friend, business partner, and co-collaborator, Wyatt Waters and I led three groups of 25 people each through Tuscany.Continue reading “Small Italian Spaces”

A few years ago, I spent a week in Northern California with a group of people who were gathered together from all over the country. One afternoon, someone turned to me and asked, “Where do you live?” “Mississippi,” I replied. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said. “Why would you be sorry?” I asked. He stumbled onContinue reading “There’s No Place Like Home”

BARBERINO VAL D’ELSA, TUSCANY— There have probably been times in my life that I thought that I understood “sacrifice.” There might have been times I even thought I made sacrifices. Those times probably had to do with the loss of certain creature comforts, or— more than likely— a lack of material things during leaner times.Continue reading “Sacrifice”

TAVARNELLE VAL D’PESA, ITALY— For the past two decades my body weight has fluctuated substantially, up and down, gaining and losing, in both directions. It’s nothing I’m proud of, but it’s also not something I worry too much about. My personal physician stays on my case about dropping poundage (as he should) and— save theContinue reading “One Who Has Wintered Well”

TAVERNELLE VAL D’PESA, ITALY— Years ago, when I first came to Tuscany, I wrote a few columns about how this area reminded me of home. It spoke to me like no other country or region in Europe. Life in Tuscany moves slower, just like life in the American South. The people seem to stop andContinue reading “Dateline: Tuscany, Deadline: Now”