“John, Why do you want to marry Anne?”

“I’ve always wanted to live in a musical.”

It was the first talk in a while where I learned more from the audience than they learned from me. I was presenting at the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids, my first time speaking with this religious population.

Spring is here which means I have only one thing on my mind -- the next backpacking trip. I will, at some point over the next three to four months, plan a trip to hike in some remote part of the country.

The first yes came years ago, when I looked in the mirror and told myself, “Yes, you can do this.”  Fourteen years ago, after a putting to bed my scariest inner demons, I realized that getting others to say yes would be my life’s work.

“What are we going to do tonight, Brain?”

“Same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world.”

It has nothing to do with his politics and everything to do with how he conducts himself. 

Do you want to give someone false hope? Forward to one of those barely researched, unproven internet articles that have seven steps to overcoming grief, six steps to a new you, and, my personal favorite, five steps to reach your goals.

My first confrontation with discomfort came when the turtleneck fad hit my hometown. I was in the first or second grade when my mom, caught up in the craze, went shopping and came home with a purple turtleneck for me to wear to church