Author: SMARSHALL10

We were married in October. Nine months later my mother passed away, and nine months after that our first child was born, in April, now twenty five years ago to the day. Countless times I have thought about that day and the days, months and years that led up to it. As a little boy,… Continue reading Birth Story (Dad’s version)

I’m not sure if I had heard the word before I received it in a letter from my Mom telling me that my Dad had cancer. “What does that mean?” I had just left home in California where my parents had moved for my Dad’s new job in Palo Alto. I was fourteen and beginning… Continue reading Cancer

July in suburban Philadelphia is hot. It is now and it was then, and in 1955 we had no air conditioning, just exhaust fans in the bedrooms to keep the damp air moving. As an eight-year-old my passion was baseball. I was the catcher on the midget league team that played at my brother’s Junior… Continue reading Junior Life Saver

My memories range from vivid to vague. Some have been constants since their first impression and others fleeting, recurring with chance associations brought on by passing sensations; the smell of fresh-cut green Douglas fir lumber for my first built house, the taste of olives on my first visit to Spain, the feeling of the sun… Continue reading If my Memory Serves me Well