When we get together for our annual reunion, my brothers and I regularly reflect on how growing up in Richmond, Michigan, almost mystically prepared us for adulthood. For a long time, I’ve wondered when, where and how that happened. There was nothing bewitching about our simple, strife-free and nurturing home in the flat over Dad’s downtown barber shop. And Richmond has no natural beauty. No waterway. No exploitable resources. It’s unusual in...

Since I fully retired, I’ve been taking more time to learn about curiosities embedded in everyday life. On a recent trip I noticed a semi among the string of trucks with the words, DIESEL EXHAUST FLUID, blazoned across its shiny tank. From Google I discovered that the Fluid is a purified urea solution in deionized water. It’s injected into diesel exhaust systems, in a process called selective catalytic reduction, to remove nitrogen oxides –...

The ‘gang’ began developing at Christmastime, when we offered to subsidize a trip to Disney for our youngest grandchildren and their parents during Spring Break. It grew after we invited the Florida branch of the family to think about joining in.  The size varied from 7 to 14. I’d enjoyed our trip to Disney a decade ago with another set of kids and grandkids, and wondered what it would be like this time. I was curious to see how I would handle...