Let me tell you about my friend Matt, who died last Friday.

He lived in Whittemore, Iowa, a town of 497 people where everyone knows your name, your parents’ names, and usually your story. Matt’s stor...

Drifting doesn’t feel dangerous, at least not at first. The water is calm. The sun is out. The shoreline looks familiar enough. When the current is gentle, drifting can even feel restful. But drift lo...

I've been retired now for 5 months. They say you miss the "animals, not the zoo" meaning you "miss the people, not the work". I've heard this a lot from people telling me this is how I would look at t...

In the house that I grew up in we had a staircase that had a bookshelf halfway up. It was where my older brother kept his college books when he was studying biology and fisheries management.

He had s...