Epistles From Paul

My frien’s,

I have been writing epistles, since 1993, delineating my admittedly skewed view of life as it unfolds around me. Many of the events are personal which led me to write "Devil in the Details" (below) as a Mea Culpa. The epistles started as an attempt to illustrate "routine happenings" in Alaska to a few of my relatives. Life in the “last frontier” is very different to life elsewhere (but Arkansas runs a close second). I retired in 1995 and thought the final chapter of the "Epistles from Paul" had been written. Then, some relatives and friends kept asking that I continue with my observations denoting the humorous side of my brief journey across the stage of life. I mentioned a website and I was asked to include the epistles.I was also asked, "Why Epistles?"

As the "epistles" morphed from letters to........something else; I thought it appropriate to give them a title. Dad was a staunch Christian; but, now and then made statements bordering on heretical. He once told me, "Christianity would be a lot better off if Paul had not wandered all over the countryside writing all those letters!" This was my clue as I too, was wandering all over the countryside writing all those letters. So I facetiously started referring to them as epistles.

When we were married, Diana vowed, “where you go I will go.” But, recently has taken to reminding me that this promise was meant in a physical not mental sense. Is there really such a thing as a “Walter Mitty Syndrome? What? Never heard of Walter Mitty? It never ceases to amaze me that young folks today are unfamiliar with either of these wonderful stories. ”The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber relates the day dreamer in most of us. The "Lady, or the Tiger" by Frank Richard Stockton, is the classic hanging ending, testing the boundaries of true love..

Anyway, there is simply no way that I am gonna let the actual unfolding of an event get in the way of a good story. So, my frien’s, if it did'n happen exactly this way…..it shudda!

As you wander through my epistles, I ask you to remember that stories are best related verbally. So I ask you to provide gestures, sounds and facial expressions as you read. I write them as I would tell them. That is what is responsible for strange spelling and sentence structure. Boy, I wish I could have used this on my English teacher!

I will add epistles below (under category subpages) click to view.

Alaska: Epistles 01-17

Retirement: starts with A101