Giving Back

“I want to start an orphanage,” I told Laura over dinner one evening. “Not necessarily an orphanage, but something like that.”“That’s real hard, Honey,” Laura replied. “Let’s just give to them.”That didn’t seem like enough to me. I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened to me without Buck and the other cowboys who…

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The Past Comes Calling

I stood in the pasture with my heifers one morning when my cell phone rang. Looking at caller identification, I answered with caution. The call was from my parents’ phone. Since Dad had never called me, I assumed it was Mom. Somehow I always held out the hope that they would say, “Son, you’ve made…

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On The Road Again

I thought my heart was going to jackhammer its way out of my chest that blustery spring day in 1991 when I was released from High Desert State Prison. I knew without a doubt that it had been the grace of God that had kept me alive and protected for five years and seven months.…

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Free At Last

A chill rippled down my spine as I put the prison vehicle into gear and drove toward the guard tower. My mouth felt dry knowing that I was in the crosshairs of several rifles.I stopped at the gate and showed the guard my papers. He inspected the vehicle and then waved me through. A mile…

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Too much time to think

I felt like a wounded animal that someone had kicked in the head. Back in my cell, I dropped onto my bed and closed my eyes. Pain throbbed from a place so deep that I couldn’t feel it most days. Being in prison had left me feeling vulnerable – a dangerous situation where my family…

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Tumbling down

Crystal champagne flutes clinked amid conversation on the terrace of the country club where lights twinkled in the trees. We’d taken Luann’s parents to dinner where, following a round of toasts, my mother-in-law slipped her arm around me.“I’m so proud of you,” she said. I smiled, but in truth I almost passed out.“That means a…

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