Rich: Simple contentment

One fair summer evening, in the gloaming of the day, Tink and I were down at Mama’s, sitting in the yard swing.Not a lot was being said. We were just enjoying the quietness and watching the lightning bugs as they prepared for their nightly entertainment.

Rich: Gunsmoke

Tink and I were in Los Angeles on business.That’s the only reason we go. We had a few hours between meetings.He said, “I’d like to take you out to the Radford lot.”Radford is a studio a bit off the beaten path from other studios.

Rich: The light of wisdom

By the time I was 21, my good parents had taught me much of what they knew. And, that was a lot.

Rich: The cabin

Dust to dust, ashes to ashes is the way we often say it.

Rich: Grave digging

Most of the local tellings — it’s not gossip — come from two places: the beauty shop and the funeral home.When Tink moved to the rural South, he had only been to two funerals in his life. On average, we have a visitation or a funeral about once a week. He’s become a pro.

Rich: Back in 1937

When she talked about those tribulations back in 1937, her feeble voice crackled with both age and emotion.

Rich: Roosevelt and the ‘govenmint’ cheese

Most admire Franklin D. Roosevelt, a crafty, pleasant, get-it-done type of president.He had been raised as an only child to his mother and father, though he had step-siblings. He was tremendously spoiled but not in the way that turned him mean.

Rich: The homeless

It was many winters ago in Washington, D.C., that I saw my first homeless person. He was lying over a warm vent atop the Metro train.

Rich: Jay, the good shepherd

It is conventional wisdom that you should never do business with family.

Rich: The intelligence quotient

Tink was in his office, supposedly, working. We both have home offices because we are both writers and work from home. I am a serious writer who composes prose for books and this column.You would be surprised how much harder it is to write this column of 650 words than it is to write an entire book.