Category Archives: Family

Anthem for My Little Sister

By Richard | Published January 12, 2012

I can tell you exactly how it feels. I’m capable of enduring almost any level of physical and emotional pain. But when someone I love is hurting, that pain is transformed into something epic and primal; a meat hook that suspends me from my sternum. The greatest fear in my life has come to pass, [...]

Also posted in Life | 16 Comments

Rise Again

By Richard | Published January 9, 2012

A song by the late and dearly-missed Stan Rogers. As it filled the office today, I tried to take the message to heart. Rise again, rise again — though your heart it be broken And life about to end No matter what you’ve lost, be it a home, a love, a friend. Like the Mary [...]

Also posted in Entertainment, Life, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Christmas Memories

By Richard | Published December 14, 2011

I grew up in a happy home, and the Christmases of my youth have crystallized into memories now held near and dear. Memories that can still keep me warm on cold winter nights. My Mother was a devout Catholic, so the holidays were, first and foremost, a spiritual season filled with prayer and solemnity. My [...]

Also posted in Life | 3 Comments

True Confessions

By Richard | Published November 12, 2011

Pain is a great leveler. I write that to explain why I had an unexpected reaction last year when I learned that doctors had misdiagnosed my neuro-endocrine tumor, and that I was likely headed for surgery. I didn’t want to tell my family, but not for the reasons you might expect. Over the last two [...]

Also posted in Life, Pity Party, Wall-E—The Neuroendocrine Tumor | 2 Comments

Sarah and Agricola

By Richard | Published August 3, 2011

This stop-motion animation music video was created by my nephew, Jason Levangie, working with Sydney Smith (who illustrated Kate Inglis’s The Dread Crew) for Gypsophilia. Such talented lads! I hope they are chuffed.

Also posted in Entertainment, Nova Scotia | 1 Comment

Even Christian Charity Has Limits

By Richard | Published August 2, 2011

I had a wonderful childhood, growing up happy in a big family that lived life in technicolor. Our anchor was Connie, our mother, who somehow managed to find time for each of us, especially when we needed her most. She may have been many things, but she was born to be a mother. Her later [...]

Also posted in Humor, Life | 3 Comments

Kids Say the Darndest Things

By Richard | Published August 2, 2011

I have a nephew who is considered a genius. He taught himself to read at age two, carried a huge book on ornithology* around with him — everywhere — when he was three and four, and memorized every basketball statistic worth knowing before graduating from grade one. But not everything came so easily. His socialization [...]

Also posted in Humor, Life | 1 Comment

The Wool Jumper

By Richard | Published May 7, 2011

I grew up in a family of seven kids, just one from the shallow end, so I always knew — and loved — a frantic life. Especially in the early days, when we had a three bedroom flat in a Halifax blue-collar neighborhood. And just to make it interesting, we always had an uncle, aunt, [...]

Also posted in Humor, Life | 3 Comments

Mayday, May Day

By Richard | Published May 2, 2011

If you suffer, you know the adage well. The best thing about a migraine is that it won’t kill you. Of course, the worst thing about a migraine is that it won’t kill you. If you’ve never lived through one, you can’t really know. Honestly. I can tell you about accidents that left me with [...]

Also posted in Housekeeping, Life, Wall-E—The Neuroendocrine Tumor | 3 Comments

Testing One… Two… Three

By Richard | Published March 28, 2011

It’s been one hell of a fortnight. When we closed the last chapter on our continuing saga, I had just offered my body to science as part of an experimental drug trial to fight the rare neuro-endocrine tumor that’s taken up permanent residence in my skull. I’ve been totally miserable since. You know how Rocky [...]

Also posted in Housekeeping, Life, Wall-E—The Neuroendocrine Tumor | Tagged | 12 Comments