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The mood in the room was somber. There was a good crowd for dinner; patients and loved ones gathered to hear Dr. Rosenberg talk about the latest research into the dreadful disease, Multiple Sclerosis. The good doctor had an uplifting manner and a matter of fact way of speaking. He talked about new drugs, new findings and gave the audience a sense of hope that new solutions for their symptoms were on the horizon.

I have gone to a number of meetings like this with my wife Joyce over the years. She has late onset M.S. and like so many in the room, has a variety of symptoms. She has good days and bad. Some of these meetings are very technical, with medical terms thrown around like a basketball on a court. Others, like this one with Dr. Rosenberg, are more down to earth, more real. These are the matter of fact talks that face reality head-on. M.S is a dreadful disease and at this time, there is no cure. [Read more…] about If I Just Had the Chance

The initials were still there. Scrawled on one of the bricks, the initials WR were still there after all these years. The Del Mar train station was deserted now, but back on July 17th, 1955, when William Kelly was ten years old, the station was alive with passengers. As he waited that sunny July morning, so many years ago, with his mom and dad for the northbound San Diegan train, he had found a paper clip on the ground and lightly scratched his initials into one of the column bricks.

Billy, as his parents called him, had something of joy and wonder in his pocket. His uncle Charles had given it to him. Good ol’ Uncle Charles. Part media mogul, part charlatan, had said with pride that the ticket that young William held in his hand would one day be valuable. As he handed it to the young lad, he said, “Billy, keep this ticket stub. It’s the first day. This thing is going to be big.” [Read more…] about The Mysterious Train Ride to the Land of Tomorrow

Sally took the Amtrak north out of San Diego. Dressed in pearls and a polka dot dress, she was looking for a new life. Her husband of three years had left her the month before. She had a little boy named Robert-two years old- who was staying with Mom till she got settled. With her life savings of five hundred dollars in her purse, she got comfortable in her seat and looked out the window.

Getting settled, she thought, was the adventure she was on. Taking the train to some far away destination. The year was 1970, the month was May. The weather was pleasant and Sally knew that she would go till she could go no further. She figured the train would take her north to Oregon or Washington. Maybe she would end up in Portland or Seattle. Far enough away to forget the bad times and start a new life. [Read more…] about A Microphone and a Two Dollar Songbook

She had seen the trailer in the window for weeks. It was pink and red, with flowers on the windows and a heart shaped opening on the side door. It was perfect. There was a little sign hanging on the side that said ‘I heart U’, and that was her feeling exactly. She needed this trailer in her life and the fifty dollar price tag would not hold her back any longer.

Barbara Ann Renaldi bought the trailer and the dreams that went with it. She took it home to the little room she rented off of Fourth Street and perched it on top of her dresser, right where she could see it anytime she would be in the room.

At first, the daydreams were mild. She would hook the trailer up to an imaginary truck, and tow it to the beach. She could see the trailer glistening in the sun, the sand and the waves in the background. She could hear the surf and the gulls in her mind and smell the sea spray. [Read more…] about The Pink Trailer to Heaven

He parked the car near the entrance of the small bridge extending over the San Dieguito River near the Del Mar Racetrack. The weather was pleasant on this Sunday morning in February 1998 and he soon found himself walking to the end of the bridge, looking over the railing and staring at his reflection in the water. He had done this same ritual oh so many times. He longed for the days of his childhood when the bridge extended across the river and went to the airport, where his father had worked for so many years. Today, like so many others, the bridge stopped midstream and so did the life of Horace Atkins Dillinger.

Horace felt sad and helpless. His dad had passed away over a decade ago, and he had been left as the sole caretaker of his overbearing mom, Alice. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his mom, but her strict, overarching manner had pretty much ruled his life. He felt remorse as he looked at the slow-moving reflections of his puffy red face on the water in the sunlight. Yes, she had pretty much stolen his joy over the years. As an only child, she rued the day when someone would call her son anything else than his real name. There were no nicknames allowed in the Dillinger household. Horace was to be Horace, named after her grandfather Horace P. Carbunkle III. [Read more…] about The Bridge to Nowhere