Stories & Blogs
Roy’s Sunday Letter December 5, 2022
** A Buddhist temple in northern Thailand has closed. Four monks and the Abbott have entered rehab for methamphetamine addiction. The villagers living around the temple are upset. The villagers earned “goodness” points by providing food to the monks. A cycle of connected lives interrupted. From last week, the Buffy Saint-Marie message lingers: “The key…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for November 27, 2022
** For sports golf watchers Gary McCord, Peter Kostic, (CBS), Roger Maltbie, Gary Koch (NBC) will not be describing 5 irons to a right-side pin placement in 2023. Fresh young faces will attempt to find the 1st tee. I never experienced the professional shoving aside of today … Jim Nance, I think I saw a…
Roy’ Sunday Letter For Nov. 20, 2022
** Something I did not know: There are 90 high schools with bar-b-que teams. Pass the sauce please! ** It is an odd world, no? The same Jeff Bezos who is laying off thousands of Amazon staff, named Dolly Parton for a $100 million Courage and Civility Award. Perhaps Dolly, always a progressive thinker, will…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for Nov. 13, 2022
** Luby’s Cafeteria closed. Cafeterias were a mainstay for families, elderly, and singles from 1950 – 1980. The tradition of moving a tray down a food line of limited choices lost its place to drive-thru, take out, expanded fast food menus, along with the pace of life 2022. Do you have a cafeteria memory??? Share……..
Roy’s Sunday Letter for Nov. 6, 2022
** Dave is an east coast elder and after reading my stories, he decided he had stories of his own, but how to begin? I asked Dave to list 15 significant events that have shaped his life. Narrow to 5, then to 2. Next, Dave drafted a half to three-quarter page story within 20 minutes….
Roy’s Sunday Letter for October 30, 2022
* My 2nd career as writer has become my passion. I care deeply for the ever-evolving characters in my stories. Each tell their own story, face challenges, make decisions made and take steps to be their true selves. I am always interested in what character, what story finds a place within you. ** In the…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for October 23, 2022
SL Reader Comments – What Is Still True? The everyday joy of grandkids….Smiling at children, and their smiles back….Connecting with college and Ft. Worth friends of long ago….Page one of a wonderous book, on whatever device….Pleasure in the shape and taste of homemade pizza. Other comments: Health & wellness; Happiness of family; Tears as sons…
The What, Why, And How Of Work, 2023
My grandfather’s faded red tractor of many a plowed field and harvested crop was his office. From here he watched rain clouds, dipped snuff, and conducted the daily business of a dry land east Texas farmer. Walls, glass, door or no door offices grew from the 1960’s onward. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford showed us…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for October 16, 2022
Beginning with Visioning. An extended family was considering buying a run-down farmhouse for family outings and vacations. Several “‘saw” moving walls, opening a blocked passageway and a wrecked floor that might hold secrets. Others could not imagine the farmhouse looking different than the unpainted, dilapidated, forlorn, farmhouse. Then, they realized, at the same time, that…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for October 9, 2022
Can a 2012 movie Inspire? Be Charming? Show us Hope? Yes. A British curmudgeon husband, a cancer-stricken wife, a community choir of elders. Trust me that Inspire, Charming, and Hope are still true. Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave. A meaningful script and story line. HBO On Demand is one source for Unfinished Song. Tell me if you…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for March 9, 2025
The CEO of Starbucks said he wants Starbucks to be everyone’s “third place,” after home and work. Come with friends, visit, perhaps purchase food and drink, but come and be a part of our place. In a similar way, I would like the Sunday Letter to be an ongoing source of encouragement, support, always with…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for March 2, 2025
FINDING MY PURPOSE IN WRITING THE SUNDAY LETTER 2025 The past weeks have been chaotic, upsetting, and stressful for me, for many of us, perhaps for you too. I stared into a blank screen wondering what I could write about, what would I write about, as well as should I even write or not. After…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 23, 2025
NOTES FROM FULL POCKETS I may not be alone in making notes on daily life or maybe even a random thought. In this Sunday Letter I am emptying my pockets of crumbled papers and notes as each might become lost. One topic in our Tuesday Meditation group was Balance, in ways consistent with in and…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 16, 2025
A Writing On Pets I am writing a Sunday Letter about the benefit of having a pet, fully understanding not every one’s life is matched to care for a pet or may have a medical situation that prohibits a pet. This Sunday Letter will hopefully be welcomed and enjoyed by readers blessed by our pets,…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 9, 2025
A LENTEN SEASON WRITING I attend a writer’s table hosted by Broadway Baptist. We writers were invited to draft a short piece for the individual Sundays of Lent 2025. As a Southern Baptist youth, I am not familiar with, nor practiced the historic rituals of the Lenten Season. For this Sunday Letter readers who also…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 2, 2025
BEING A SENIOR IN 2025 AMERICA I recently completed a story of seniors having lunch at separate tables at Mary’s Grill. Tables were needed to serve waiting families, friends, and office workers. The seniors order lunch Specials and leave small, if any tips. Since Mary’s is a friendly place, for several seniors it is not…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 26, 2025
Friends and friendship join Joy, Kindness, and Peaceful Living on life’s wheel. As I talk with and meet people or on a social platform, I listen to the challenges of making new friends, going deeper with a current friendship, or losing friends through aging, health, or relocation. There is a touch of spirits unique to…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 19, 2025
I began, we began, seeing video of the Pacific Palisades hillside fire and the push of Santa Ana winds on January 7. Today, 12,000 homes have burned with thousands displaced and at-risk for dreams, hopes, and memories to be lost somewhere in the sudden need to flee. Some with a “Go Bag,” others only a…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 12, 2025
INSIGHT ON WRITING PRAYERS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY Prayers and Other Notes: There are two mentors I consider personal heroes. The first, my grandfather, who left his east Texas tractor each Friday afternoon then entering a small hut on the side of the barn. He would use two stiff fingers from repairing too many…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 5, 2025
Thoughts on Mentors and Mentoring Most of us, whatever age, gender, and background, have become who we are through family, education, and life experiences. In addition, many of us have received guidance and support from one or more mentors. And now, perhaps from our own experiences and elderhood, we can provide the “pay it forward”…