On Being 50

Life is a funny thing, you know? I was thinking about my dad today. I was remembering when he turned 40 years old. I would have been five years old or so at the time. I remember thinking how old forty years old was. My dad was ancient. Heh! Well, today is my birthday. Fifty [...]

Fresh Cut Grass, the Buzz of Bees, and Baseball! (Revisited)

Fresh Cut Grass, the Buzz of Bees, and Baseball! Posted by V. T. Eric Layton on Apr 6, 2010 It must be getting close to summertime! I don’t like the hot, humid Florida summers these days as much as I did when I was a kid. Of course, I loved summertime back then because it [...]

The Easter Egg Hunt

Now for something a little lighter… This is a story that I wrote a few years ago. It’s about an Easter egg hunt that my mom arranged for me one Easter Sunday when I was a wee lad. I hope you enjoy reading it… or re-reading it, if you’re one of the folks who’s seen [...]

Lois

A little story about my mom. On a spring day in 1925 in the small town of Avon Park, Florida, a lady by the name of Mary gave birth to a daughter. She was named Lois Inez. She always hated the Inez part, though. Lois was Mary’s second child. There was already a boy named [...]

You Can’t Do It Alone

My father used to say that no man was an island. I never subscribed to that baloney. I was always pretty much a loner. I didn’t need anyone in my life. I was never lonely. I always had friends, though; many of them. A few, a handful or so, were very close friends. I’ve always [...]

Life Without an Afterlife

While driving around the other day, my brother commented in passing that he could not understand how atheists could live their lives without the hope of something greater afterwards. I’m an atheist. Although, I chose to not get into that topic of discussion with my Christian brother at that moment, I have had other Christian [...]

The Oak Tree

There’s a big old oak tree out in my front yard that’s probably almost 100 years old. It was there when my father bought this property and started building this house. That was in 1953 or so. The tree was old then. It was probably a sapling when Coolidge was President. Of course, at that [...]

R.I.P. Sparky Anderson

The baseball world lost one of its legends today… George Lee “Sparky” Anderson. There was no other like him. When I heard this on the news tonight, it got me reminiscing. I grew up three blocks from the Cincinnati Reds spring training facility here in Tampa, Florida. They played their spring training games at the [...]

Henry – Thoughts of My Dad

My dad left this world on a cloudy fall day back in 1986. I miss him every day. This is about him… Henry On a cool spring day in 1927 a young lady named Angelina gave birth to a son. He was named Enrique, a Spanish version of the old and honored Anglo name Henry. [...]