I was on the front porch when you drove by and I waved, smelling the crisp, clean, dry smell of autumn in the air, forever associated with orange and yellow colors and grass dappled with beads of dew. Geese in a “V” formation wing their way above me, anxious to reach some far south destination where drinks are served with little umbrellas. Change is in the air.

I was on the front porch when you drove by and I waved just back from a beach vacation where I witnessed an epidemic in this country that threatens to ruin the lives of millions of innocent people. Don’t worry, it’s not contagious --- unless you count Facebook. The only people who can stop this epidemic are the very ones causing it: my generation, the Baby Boomers. Many of us still think we’re at Woodstock, and that we have a waist and a pencil thin neck. We don’t. We are sen

Explore why 'Dumb Could Be the New Smart' as Joe delves into the bliss of ignorance and how embracing 'Dumb' can lead to a happier life.

I was on the front porch when you drove by and I waved having been chased all week by small joys, like the wonderful singing of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” at church Sunday, the happiness at 7:30 a.m. of little children in a school bus on Davie Avenue, the euphoria of a baby given his milk bottle in the waiting room of my ophthalmologist, and lunch with a friend, a brother by another mother, as we reminisced about growing up on a farm.

I was sitting on the front porch when you drove by and I waved, thinking about a woman I got to know as we both waited to be called for our medical procedures. She turned to me and said “My father likes your stories --- you look something like him.” Quite an opening for a woman who appears to be close to my age. Then she said “I got a funny story for you.”