The Journey – J. Gardner Hurd

49 Years Ago Yesterday

April 19, 1975. Some people remember dates that changed their lives forever. Sometimes for the better, sometimes not. You don’t always know at the time what the effect of that event will be. On April 19, 1975, one of my high school friends invited me to her boyfriend’s house for a party. It was myContinue reading “49 Years Ago Yesterday”

Pathways

My house is almost completely packed and I move in a week. I am living amidst boxes and rolled up carpets and a somewhat disturbed cat. As I move about these rooms that I’ve lived in for almost twenty-five years, I pause here and there to remember. Remember when Bruce discussed his plans for buildingContinue reading “Pathways”

Downsizing

That’s the next step on the agenda isn’t it? Going through forty-six years of accumulated possessions, mementos, pictures, stuff. More than forty-six years when you think about my childhood things, my family’s things. I was going to say family heirlooms but they have no value to anyone outside the family, like my grandmother’s diaries datingContinue reading “Downsizing”

Memories Redux

I find myself remembering more and more every week, or I should say re-remembering. It’s been just about a year since Bruce died and for a long time I found it hard to picture his face as it used to be. Neck cancer and its subsequent surgeries and treatments took their toll, although he alwaysContinue reading “Memories Redux”

Dining Alone

So, forging ahead in this new life, I am embracing dining alone. First, I am not, nor ever have been, a fan of cooking. Bruce did the heavy lifting in that department. And it’s not so much that I can’t cook, though some have suggested that. It’s more that I never know what IContinue reading “Dining Alone”

On the Road Again

So I did it. I drove five hundred miles over six days from Milwaukee Wisconsin, through much of southern Michigan and then, eventually, to Detroit. In Milwaukee I spent four days at a writer’s retreat, met some wonderful new people (fellow writers), got great feedback on my short story, used lots of quiet timeContinue reading “On the Road Again”