Author: dawn

For better or worse I can’t help striking up conversations with people wherever I go. And because I am a terrible insomniac who will do almost anything to avoid rush hour traffic and crowds, I often find myself in 24 hour stores including Walmart in the middle of the night. Despite what the internet might…

This post was originally written nearly 30 years ago when I first left the Marine Corps. While dark, it is a very good representation of what many Heroes experience during that transition phase. For me it has a happy ending, but for too many the ending is even darker still. However, it should also be…

While sifting through a seemingly endless box of odds and ends recently, I came across a hand-carved leather checkbook cover I recognized as having been made by my father. Unfolding the stiff leather, I discovered a photograph tucked inside its lining. Only mildly discolored with age, the picture has the strange yellow cast, which in…