My son Brian is a professional writer, with a Masters of Fine Arts degree in creative nonfiction.  He is also an excellent writer.  He introduced me to the essays of Brian Doyle, through the book One Long River of Song, essays that touch the heart in a searing unsentimental way, that provoke unexpected guffaws, that teach and humor and inspire.  I suddenly realized there existed another kind of writing filling the space between the super-condensed sounds of poetry and the loose narrative of memoir: essays that some, including me, call “reflections.”  Such reflections are what will inhabit this page, this space in cyberspace.  I am still rummaging around for my own style, but these essays reflect no one else but me.  They are longer than poems, but shorter than chapters, and move along quickly.  I hope they beget hope, that what inspired me will inspire you.  Ultimately, I just hope you like them.