The Gifted Underachiever

My life so far

Battling the Death Star

Not long after the turn of the century I was searching for a new cell phone plan. The offerings were meager in those early frontier days, and the biggest player in the field in the Dallas/Fort Worth area was Cingular, aka AT&T. Fortunately, our needs were simple: three cell phones for mom, dad, and daughter away at college. What sold this particular plan was that calls between our family phones […]

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Mom’s missing obit

I never read my mother’s obituary. I’m sure it was pretty standard fare for The Eunice News. It probably went something like this: Gloria Bollich Coleman, 44, died Monday, December 23, 1974 at Moosa Memorial Hospital in Eunice, La. She is survived by her husband of 23 years, Luther B. Coleman and her six children, Thomas, Danny, David, Christopher, Marcia and Byron, two sisters, Sister Isidore Bollich and JoAnn Frey, […]

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Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

Every adult Cajun male has a unique recipe for the best chicken and sausage gumbo. And being an adult Cajun male I know how to make a gumbo, but until now I’ve never made a recipe for it. Unfortunately, I can only give you the lyrics, not the music. To become a true gumbo maker takes a lot of practice and some “almosts.” Endure those, and one day you’ll arrive at […]

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Memories unbidden but welcomed

Thirty-seven years ago today I said “I do” to the first girl I fell in love with who was not my mother. She was 17 and I was 22. Things were different back then. That’s an excuse I know, because we were both too young to know what we were doing. But we did it anyway. I’m sure some people thought that we had to get married. It didn’t help […]

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Fatherhood: a rough proposition

Mothers have it easy. Their role has been proscribed since the beginning of time. They give birth. They nurture their young. They protect them, feed them and clothe them. Mothers insure their children become educated, go to church and learn healthy eating habits. So what’s left for fathers to do? That’s why being a father is the hardest job in the world. We have no idea what the hell we’re […]

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