Posts by Sean Dietrich

After spending only a few minutes looking through these pages, I usually close the book and sigh with a bittersweet smile on my face. Then I say aloud, “Thank you, Norman Rockwell.”

The unofficial cardinal rule of the writing industry states that the only way to make a small fortune as a writer is to start off with a large one.

But just when I couldn’t feel any less important, or any more ridiculous, or foul smelling, I see the gates to a Santiago are wide open. Open to me. A pilgrim who has been humbled greatly by his journey. 

I should be angry, or bitter that my wife is somewhere out there, hiking deep within those hermosas mountains, walking the Camino without me, as I limp through Spain on shin-splinted calves. But I’m maybe happier than I’ve ever been.

We have been walking the Camino de Santiago for a long time now. I don’t even remember when we started. It seems like 600 years ago we set out. I don’t even remember why we’re out here.

My dog, Marigold, and I have been walking a lot lately. It’s not easy, walking. We have very few “good walks” inasmuch as walking in a straight line is impossible when you can’t see.

When I was a young man I was anti-morning-people. Morning people were insane. No longer.

Many of those things are gone now. But you can still remember it all. The way you felt. The way you looked.

They were long forgotten boys in uniforms. Men who had families. Who never saw their wives again. Who nevermore kissed their mothers again, or shook hands with their old men, or bounced babies on their laps.

Five years ago I was in Huntsville when the world shut down. Five years.

Her classroom was out of control. Had been for a while. The kids in her “at-risk” fourth-grade class were about as organized as a prison riot.

Yes, my father had a lot of rare qualities, and my beautiful little sister got them all.

He was maybe 11. Twelve at the most. He was in the supermarket. He had his little sister balanced on his hip. You don’t often see boys carrying toddlers out in public.

I’m left holding my instrument. But I have warmth inside. An overwhelming feeling that our kids are going to be okay if we can just get the phones out of their hands for a few minutes.

Bucking today's smartphone society is harder than one might realize.

I miss glass bottles. I come from a generation of glass. And therein lies a fundamental difference between my generation and the current one.

So I've bought a flip phone. I’m going to commit to using this phone for a month. Just to see what happens. I’ll probably fail after six minutes and resume an intimate relationship with an Apple device. But I’d like to see if I can rediscover my own life.

I wonder if we Americans couldn’t put aside our disagreements for a moment, and agree on a few things we love. 

I’m a big fan of physical newspapers. Even though they aren’t en vogue anymore, you can usually find one at the supermarket.  

The Helen Keller Art show is in full swing. The center is adorned in art. Tactile pieces. Colorful artwork. Sculptures. The artists are mostly students from the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind.

It was an average weeknight in Birmingham when I stood atop the Vulcan statue. Snow on the ground. I was looking at the city below, standing beneath Vulcan’s massive butt cheeks.

Her lowest point came when her ‘83 Toyota gave out. It was the day of her son’s 12th birthday. She had been picking up extra gigs lately so she could afford a birthday present for her boy.

I can either look to the old year, staring at all the crap strewn behind me, and bid the old me a tearful goodbye. Or I can say hello to what comes next.

The girl was eating fast because we HAD to hurry and finish SUPPER because we were exchanging PRESENTS after the MEAL. I’m surprised she didn’t choke on her mac and cheese.

It all started when a lunch lady befriended a lonely little boy...

It’s hard to choose my favorite Christmas movie. Each time I try to pick one, I’m afraid I’ll shoot my eye out.

I went to buy Advent candles today. It was a big box store. The young employee had no idea what I was talking about.