There was something about that hot chocolate. I don’t know whether it was because my hands were cold despite the heavy mittens my aunt had crocheted or the sweet smell of that cocoa powder. To this day, I don’t know if that hot chocolate was made with water or powdered milk. I just knew ...

I was only in grade school when the Vietnam War hit me where I worship. It’s not that I hadn’t paid attention to the world around me at the tender age of 13. It was unavoidable with front page newspaper stories and in-your-face live coverage of the war on the nightly NBC news with Chet and ...

Driving into Wheeling via 16th Street on Tuesday morning, something was amiss. It was still an hour from noon, yet the line outside the Wheeling Soup Kitchen was already filling up. On 18th Street, the number of people milling about Catholic Charities’ 18th Street Center was noticeably ...

There are some things that have gone the way of “modern” living, but not so fast. I guess I am still a bit old school. Yes, I still write checks to pay bills. Recently, I was looking to buy a nice, sturdy checkbook cover and could not find one in any stores locally. A clerk at Boscov’s ...

I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was and still am a bit sick about it. It was a perfect fall driving day, sunny and clear out in the county when it happened. Despite my obeying the speed limit and trying to be alert to the wildlife I may encounter, there was no avoiding the collision with ...

There was a time when parents would pile their children into the family car — a station wagon in our home — and take a “Sunday drive” through the country. Of course that was after church when we would be instructed to change into our play clothes. The Sunday drive for our family ...