The following story is true. The names haven’t been changed to protect the innocent so if anyone sees themselves in the story, well, that’s what you get for being around when this all went down.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/04/02/smiling-in-hell-2-0-13/

So I just woke up from a dream where I was visiting my dear departed mother in Heaven.  What follows is the capsulated version of what was captured.   Enjoy…

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/02/01/smiling-in-hell-2-0-12/

The author remembers back to being one week away from the 2020 Presidential election, a very scary night for all, and it is preceded only by a couple of days by the scariest holiday of the year, no, not Valentine’s Day, but that night of goblins, ghouls and cos-play aficionados, Halloween and recalls memories of Halloweens past.  

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/10/28/smiling-in-hell-2-0-10/

Where the author shares some sweet memories of a sweet, tough, strong and incredibly loving women, his Grams. 

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/09/04/smiling-in-hell-2-0-9/

Written about six months after I had been an official “RG” (Retired Guy) and made the emotional decision to hang up my collection of khakis, calendars and sweater vests back in January, it had actually been over six months since I mentally clocked out of the work-a-day-world of the employed. So, with that mini-milestone under my belt, I thought I’d do a reflective brain dance to see where I was and how I was doing compared to my detailed (not) plans and intricate strategies (also not) for attacking the land of the retired and share those perceptions here. Whether you like it or not...

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/08/13/smiling-in-hell-2-0-8/

Speaking of ‘Global Warming,’ now I actually have a theory about that and what this here heat is really going to do to this little blue ball called Earth (hmm, does anyone call it Earth OTHER than us locals?). See, even if we inhumane beings amazingly don’t find a creative way to do our own selves in through our particular brand of shortsighted foolish abuse to each other, well there’s sure to be a number of other things that will.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/07/31/smiling-in-hell-2-0-7/

Where the writer shares how the family started and still enjoy an Independence Day tradition of watching “Yankee Doodle Dandy” starring James Cagney and the film version of “1776” starting William Daniels and John Adams and other patriotic vitriolics. 

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/07/03/smiling-in-hell-2-o-3/

Being the week before FD2020 and, as most of you who have treaded these lines with me thus far know, I am a sucker for sentiment. So, in keeping with that particular artery, I just have to fill a few more staves with thoughts, memories and reflections on my old man and his effect on this particular fodder…me.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/06/20/smiling-in-hell-2-0-6/

Since the thermometer has been creeping up a little, and maybe because I’m retired and on permanent summer vacation from school, I‘ve had a whole swimming pool full of summertime memories falling out of my ears like lobsters. Going all over the place, too.  Most of them have been showing up from my past voyages though the “Land of Cleve” smelling of honeysuckle, lilac, chlorine and Coppertone. Ah, just the thing to get me waxing even more sentimental than usual.  Here's one from last summer.  Hope you enjoy it.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/06/08/smiling-in-hell-2-0-5/

Smiling in Hell 2.0 - Chapter 7: The Winter of My Snow Ball Nightmare

Knowing the unprecedented Covid challenge that we’ve all recently had to deal with, and how we're dealing with the deep heat of summer, I thought I’d share some mini-vignettes of how those early chapters in life were where we first had to learn to “Smile in Hell.”  This one will hopefully serve to cool ya'll off a little.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/05/24/smiling-in-hell-2-0-4/