Escape Adulthood

You & Improved

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A Ridiculously Easy Way to Rekindle a Friendship

"I Just Called to Say I Love You" is a famous Stevie Wonder song. It's also the title of this painting. One word in that title might be more important than all the others. We'll get to that in a sec. When my wife Kim and I were dating, we'd spend hours and hours on the phone, talking late into the night, racking up phone bills that if bound together, would make the longest Harry Potter book look like a pamphlet. This was in the days when phones were attached to walls and the "call waiting" feature was a source of civil war for any siblings also angling for phone rights. My personal …

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The Downside of Doing Things the Regular Way

How do I eat my cereal? The regular way. I pour cereal into a bowl. Then I pour milk over the cereal. Then I eat the cereal, savoring the first bites before said cereal is ruined with sogginess. My wife does it differently. She pours cereal into a bowl. Then she adds the milk. Then she goes on a two-week vacation.  Then she eats the cereal. Somehow, we've been married for almost twenty-three years. I recently learned of yet another way to approach this breakfast staple that might be even weirder. I actually met a person who pours the milk in first, before the cereal. She …

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Keep Swinging

Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs in his 22-year career. He also struck out 1,330 times. When he swung the bat, not even he knew exactly what would happen. Sometimes I create art that feels like a grand slam home run. I am convinced that everyone everywhere will love it. Awards will be won, museums will come calling, and grown men will weep. Instead, the ball glances off the end of my bat and dribbles weakly down the first base line. The world responds to my brilliant work of art with a deafening, "Meh." Then there are other times when something I created as an afterthought, with scant …

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How to Win at the Game of Life

It's that magical time of the year. Pitchers and catchers have reported and spring training has officially begun. March Madness is almost upon us; faces will be painted and brackets will be broken faster than an over-caffeinated cheetah. I am a competitive person. But more times than I'd care to admit, too much of my self-worth gets wrapped up in what my team does on game day. I'm embarrassed to say that I've thrown things across the room and have had whole days ruined by a tough loss. I've shown more emotion in celebrating a big win than I did for any of the births of my three kids. (On …

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Can I Interest You in Some Free Happiness?

We were at the dinner table, eating spaghetti and meatballs. As I raised my fork, I paused and made a declaration. "We need some Vitamin Sea. Let's go to Florida." No convincing was needed. Everyone dropped their silverware and pushed themselves back from the table. We hastily packed a few bags and loaded into the car, leaving our dirty dishes behind. We were off! Ok...that's not exactly how it went when Kim and I decided our family needed a break and chose Destin as our destination. Spaghetti wasn't involved, there were about two weeks between the decision and the …

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Hallelujah Chorus

What makes life worth living? When we look back on a given year, it's easy to identify the massive oak trees and tall pines that stand as signposts: the weddings and the funerals, the epic vacations, and the major accomplishments.  But we often overlook the small blessings – the birds within the trees, if you will. Our minds can only hold so much information, and in my experience, our hard drive space seems to dwindle with each passing year. The brain prioritizes the stuff it determines is important, discarding the rest. Those giant oaks and majestic pines take precedence. I've …

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The Art of Letting Go

He floats through the air with the greatest of easeThe daring young man on the flying trapeze The greatest of ease, my foot. Before daring trapeze artists can float through the air, they have to master an important skill: letting go. It may look easy from the ground, but it's anything but.  When it comes to flying from one trapeze to another, it turns out the letting go part is mandatory. It requires a leap of faith – in which for a brief moment the person is not connected to anything or anyone – before they can move through their routine and delight the audience. In the circus …

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The Mystery of First and Last Times

I’m not sure where middle age begins, but I’m pretty sure that even grading on the most generous curve, I’m in it.  In some ways, maybe we all are. With Kim's father in hospice the past week, and with his only brother in hospice for three weeks before that, I've naturally been thinking a lot about life and death.  And last times. Gary and his wife Joyce are experiencing a lot of last times right now. And reflecting on the ones they didn't realize were the last when they happened. I wonder, is middle age the point of life when you start collecting more last times than …

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When is Failure a Success?

At the beginning of 2022, I set a goal of achieving 400 studio hours. It was born out of a retreat I had a month earlier in which I felt God telling me to spend less time doing His job and more time doing mine. It was made clear to me that a big part of my job included making art. I figured an average of 8 hours a week was worthy of aiming for.After starting out of the gate strong, I hit a speed bump when we went on vacation to Florida at the end of January. Missing a whole week required me to squeeze in those eight hours elsewhere. It took me till the end of February to get caught up.Things …

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That New Year Smell

A new year is upon us. It's filled with possibility, free of dents and scratches, and still possesses that new year smell.In the coming year, I have now reached the age where I can expect to be surprised by many of the events that will occur. Some will be happy and thrilling, others... not so much.I will not claim to predict the future (who can?), but I am quite certain about a few things. For instance, I know at least some of the big plans I have for the year will fall flat. Now that's always been a fact, but it's finally no longer a surprise.I also know – without a shadow of a doubt – that …

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