Kith & Kin

The actual box in my actual attic with the actual documents from George Washington in it. Created with Copilot AI. Now here is an amazing coincidence! On the very day Donald Trump is slated to accept the Republican presidential nomination, on the very day , I say, I have found several amazing artifacts relating to George Washington, including the speech he gave when accepting the very first presidential nomination! Jacky and Patsy Washington, George and Martha ’s children. Seriously. No, this isn't a joke. That ’s really what they looked like. [public domain] While cleaning out my attic this morning at 4 (I don ’ t know why, I guess I was just in the mood), I came across an old cardboard box. To my amazement, in it I found several original documents from the 1700s that pertain to George Washington himself ! How the box got there, I have no idea, but items it includes will, I believe, result in a significant rewriting of American history. Dusty documents inside included the followin...

I am not a political person. I always try to stay out of political discussions, and I’m not going to argue with anyone about his or her political opinions. In addition, I am not particularly a fan of Pres. Trump. You can ask my wife—I have waxed eloquent in frustration about him numerous times. His presidency was chaotic, and his public statements are often cruel, cockeyed, irresponsible, and inflammatory. There is no question that his rhetoric has been a factor in the degeneration of civil political discourse in America. Nonetheless, I am not surprised at all that there was an assassination attempt on him yesterday. Why? If you were of a certain unbalanced mindset and you believed all the foolhardy, overblown statements regarding Trump made by politicians and pundits and celebrities over the past few months, you too might decide that assassination was justified. What statements am I referring to? Let’s look at just a few recent examples from three online sources.   T...

Some memories stay fresh in our minds because they are so special or so amazing or so shattering that we play them over and over throughout our lives. Some memories, though, are hidden in the haze of our history and then surprise us by appearing when a random event triggers them. For instance, a couple of days ago I saw a bicycle and one of those hidden memories jumped out suddenly. I stopped walking for a second and carefully turned it over in my mind. Yes, I remember now—it really happened that way. I had completely forgotten. . . . The Bike I had picked out the coolest bike I’d ever seen from the all the bikes available in the bike store in little old downtown Fredericksburg. This was the era of Footsies , hula-hoops , Jarts , bell bottoms—and banana bikes. AI generated by Copilot Banana bikes had a distinctively elongated seat. They were usually bright in color, with high handlebars decorated with tassels that flapped in the wind. At some point I put plastic clickers...

Cousins on a summer day at the grandparents ’  house. My brother Keith is on the far left, and our cousin Scott is next to him. I ’ m next, standing with my arm around Scott. Loren is the tall kid in the middle with the New Mexico T-shirt on, and his sister Robin is right beside him. I never told anybody this before, but I had a crush on Robin — I think you can see why! I recently received a text from my brother Eric: “Just got word from cousin Robin that Aunt Karon died on June 1.” That was only three days ago. She was 86 years old. Aunt Karon was the fourth child born to my grandfather Weston Skaggs . Born in 1937, she was the family’s only girl. Her older half-brothers were Leo, Eddie, and my dad, Nyle. Weston’s first wife, Eva, passed away fifteen days after my dad was born; Grandpa remarried, and he and his second wife—we called her Buddy —had just one child, Audris Karon. Dad was born in 1936, so he and Karon were close in age. But I never heard him talk about their ch...

  AI generated by Copilot. Back in my twenties, thirties, and forties, I knew everything. That’s not really true, of course. Let’s say instead that I knew all the conservative Christian rules regarding What kind of music all Christians should listen to. What is and is not modest for women. Exactly what length a man’s hair should be. Which businesses Christians should and should not patronize. Which politicians to support. Which causes to support—and which ones to oppose. Which entertainment choices were acceptable and which were not. [1] I also thought, when I was young, that as I grew older, these Unassailable Truths would become firmer, joined by even more Unassailable Truths (hereafter “UTs”). The wisdom I would possess when I would be, for example, sixty-two would be immense! I would know even more answers! Then life happened. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not questioning my faith (although that exercise is good for you to do every once in a while), and...