She came through the greeting line. She was a beautiful teenager. Long blond hair. Blue eyes. Cowboy boots. There were stylish holes in her jeans, a flower tattoo on her shoulder, and she wore a perpetual smile.

I was shaking hands, signing books, kissing babies. Soon, it was the young woman’s turn in line, her mother introduced her to me.

“This is my daughter.” Let’s call her Laura.

I hugged Laura’s neck.

The young woman hugged me tightly. It was not your run-of-the-mill hug. It was the kind of hug someone gives you when they really want you to know they care. I felt my ribs creak.

It was hard not to notice how lovely Laura was. She looked like a homecoming queen minus the tiara.

Sadly, I cannot relate to nice-looking teenagers. I was a teenager with a wide waistline, pale skin, buck teeth, moderate-to-severe pimple coverage, obscenely red hair, buckshot freckles, and a crippling affinity for the accordion.

“Do you remember me?” young Laura asked.

I looked at her. I tried to put it together. But nothing was coming

to me.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “You’re going to have to help me remember who you are.”

“I’m Laura.”

“And I’m senile,” said I.

So the girl told me a story to help me remember.

Her story took place eight years ago. She was in the oncology ward. She was 10 years old. She had bone cancer. There wasn’t much to do in the hospital but read. So that’s what she did. She read books.

Somehow she found one author she particularly liked. He wrote short columns. He was a dork. She read his stuff in books at first. She liked him. Which only shows you how bad off she was.

Then she looked up the author online and began reading his column daily.

One summer day, her mother took a chance. The woman reached out and sent the…

“Dear Sean, are you a Christian? Sometimes I can’t tell. There is only one way to heaven, and your ‘tolerance for all,’ and ‘just be a good person’ philosophy sounds fine, but it leads to hell.

“...Hell is real, Sean. I read about your affinity for alcohol, and how you condone flagrant sinners. …As a Christian, I find your feel-good writing to be misleading and disgusting to Believers. There is only one way to heaven… and I believe you know this. I am not saying any of this in judgment, I am only saying this as your brother. Repent, friend. The time is at hand.”

Dear Friend. Gosh. First of all, your concern for my soul humbles me. I am honored. You sound like someone I could be friends with.

Thank you for taking time to write such a stirring and unsolicited email.

It’s funny, I used to know an elderly retired preacher who said that someone’s eternal soul was like their groin region. To just walk up and start talking about someone’s

groinal region is rude and downright uncalled for. But congratulations to you. You just jumped right in there.

The writer in me needs to tell you that your letter was extremely well written. Not one grammatical error. I am verry empressed. I actually counted your total words. There were 912. It takes me hours to write 900 error-free words.

Ergo, you spent at least an hour out of your day writing to me. How unselfish.

I’ll bet you spend the same amount of time worrying about children who are born to crack-addicted parents. I’ll bet, each day, you visit those drug-addicted babies in their lowly states.

I’ll bet you are also a frequent volunteer in the NICU, holding motherless and fatherless babies, so they don’t die of neglect. Kudos to you, sir. I wish I could be like you.

You probably also visit the homeless shelters and…

My sister’s family is visiting from Florida this week. It’s difficult to get any serious writing work done becausspiwjg[qi31 0409UJ15M\2
TOJLOIKN B4G=2 2309RU3O jfjwd ifjw8989898#(#(*&

Sorry. That was my 5-year-old niece, Lucy, banging away on my laptop keyboard while I’m working.

Lucy is obsessed with the things in my office. She marches in here all the time just to look around, climb on the bookshelves, go through my tax returns, or to use crayons to add some color to my walls.

But she’s particularly fascinated with my computer. Sometimes I’m afraid she’s going to bump my laptop off my desk and knock it on thFi340YYY(&#$%2 ti9u2-39tu 1203902hsb IUHW)*i23ub. &#)OOPWow 4-2t-h024h)#$)T*)UUW 283h2039))239#.

My nieces have enough energy to power an average suburban electrical grid. They arrived in our driveway last night after spending upwards of six hours in the car. By the time they got here, they were not unlike compressed atomic matter contained in a jar, just waiting to explode.

When my sister’s SUV pulled in, the doors of the vehicle were flung open and little voices screamed, “UNCLE SEAN!”

Immediately, a

duo of two-foot-tall humans leapt out of the automobile. These were towheaded girls, barefoot, wearing multi-colored tutus, their lips and tongues were stained with blue dye from eating either Kool-Aid, candy, or—and we cannot rule this out—BIC pens.

They moved so quickly they looked like a giant blur. I could hardly see them. They were blond-colored streaks, wholly invisible to the naked eye. Their location could only be determined by the distant sounds of their spontaneous singing of songs from the Disney movie “Frozen.”

“AUNT JAY JAY!” they said, throwing their arms around my wife.

They call my wife Aunt Jay Jay because at one time they could not pronounce the name Jamie. Used to, my niece Lucy couldn’t pronounce the name Sean, either. So whenever she said my name she just called me “UNCLE SSSHHH!” which…

I am not sure whether you understand English, but I’d like to think you do.

I’d like to think that you know exactly what I’m saying to you. I’d like to think I speak fluent dog.

Heaven knows, I speak to you non-stop. Because you’re blind. Because you need me to keep talking. When I talk to you, you don’t feel so disconnected. That way you’re always part of what’s going on.

So I’ve been talking a lot since I brought you home. I say anything and everything to you, so you feel involved.

I tell you when I’m going to the bathroom. When I read a book, I read aloud. When we go for walks, I describe what I’m seeing. I talk to you about the green crabgrass, the particular shade of blue in the sky.

Yeah, I know it’s silly. You probably can’t understand me. Although sometimes I’m not sure.

Sometimes I think you actually know what I’m saying. Because there are occasions when I tell you how much I love you. And when you hear this, you sort of

lean into me like you know precisely what “I love you” means.

Other times, when I tell you “It’s going to be okay,” after something frightens you, you tuck your head into my chest because I think that, on some level, you know. You know what I mean.

I can only imagine how scared you get when a loud sound occurs nearby. I can only guess at how disoriented you feel when you stumble off the curb.

I owe you an apology. I’m sorry. I don’t know how to teach a blind dog. I am learning as I go. I have so much more to learn. I’m reading books. I’m watching videos. I’m trying. I promise you, I am. But I am an inadequate trainer.

Any troublesome issues lie within me, not you. You’re doing perfectly. You have…

DEAR SEAN:

Just wanted to say we caught your show in Lake City, but I was not as into it as I wanted to be. Because, you see, a few days earlier, they did a scan and found lesions on my spine. It looks like cancer. I have tests scheduled.

I’m only 50. I have many things I still want and need to do. I’m scared but ready to fight. I want more years with my wife. I want to be there for my kids. My son is getting married in October. I’m not really sure why I emailed you other than to ask for your thoughts and prayers, and maybe a word of advice.

Anyway, I’ll wrap this up because I’m rambling now.

Thanks again Sean,
JOSH-IN-GEORGIA

DEAR JOSH:

First off, it’s okay to ramble. Secondly. I don’t give “advice” per se, because the best advice I have is: Don’t eat the yellow snow.

So anyway, I contacted several of my friends after I received your email and asked them for THEIR advice, which—trust me—will be better than mine.

People such as Rhonda, who has had cancer three times.

“I fought hard,” says Rhonda, of Hartford, Connecticut. “...And now I’m 53, cancer free, and I still bike, jog, and swim every day. Cancer has not stopped me yet. I have many friends who have survived cancer.

“Start searching out the stories of how many people have defeated cancer. It will blow your mind.”

The doctor found cancer in Jace’s (49) abdomen. He went through multiple treatments, and he is now 14 years cancer free.

Jace has some outstanding advice: “My advice is not to write Sean Dietrich.”

I have a friend, Allen, in East Tennessee, who writes:

“Yeah, I’ve had cancer twice. I’ve done radiation, chemo, and all sorts of other weird experimental stuff I don’t recommend.

“It was a tough road, but last week we celebrated my…

Hi. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. We’re strangers. But we’re the same, sort of. Only chances are, you drive a nicer car than I do. In fact I guarantee you drive a nicer car.

I drive a 25-year-old truck. The tailgate is rusted, there is a prodigious layer of dog hair on the upholstery. The windshield is cracked, the gas gauge doesn’t work, the roof leaks so that when it rains the interior of my Ford bears the perpetual scent of canine.

There is a sticker on my dashboard which reads “Tomorrow is a day with no mistakes in it.” My old man gave the sticker to me when I was 10. I’ve never parted with it.

So anyway, although we’ve never met before, we have a few things in common. Namely, we both breathe air, we both eat food, we both work for a living. We both hold a deep level of respect for the Internal Revenue Service.

We also have bad days. You and me. That’s just how we are. We’re humans.

Bad days are inevitable.

The reasons for our bad days vary.

Maybe we don’t get enough sleep. Or people let us down. Sometimes we get overloaded with work, family, schedules, appointments, commitments, obligations, IRS audits, etc.

Sometimes we receive bad news. Sometimes we have chronic pain. Sometimes we have chronic stress. Sometimes we suffer from the chronic idiocy of our fellow man.

Sometimes your water heater goes out. Sometimes your CV axle needs replacing. Sometimes your football team sucks Sometimes your dog pees in the kitchen.

Sometimes, it’s the one-year anniversary of your dad’s death. Sometimes your spouse decides they want a new spouse. Sometimes your cat dies. Sometimes your loved one dies. Sometimes the doctor looks you square in the eye and uses the C-word. Sometimes—and here I am speaking of myself—your septic tank needs to be pumped.

Either way, a body…

“Sean, hi. I just want to ask you if you have any advice on how to show my 14-year-old daughter that I am proud of her. She doesn’t have her father anymore, and she is actually pregnant. I don’t judge her. I know more than anything that she would like to know someone is proud of her, and even though I say it all the time, I don’t know if she knows that. No matter what mistakes she’s made, I am actually very proud of her.”

Don’t ever change. You’re doing it right.

“Dear Sean, my father physically abused me. I had to tell someone. I am 39 years old. He is dead now.”

Hi, friend. I was smacked around by my father sometimes. First time he ever hit me happened almost against his will. It was almost a reflex on his part. It was the way he’d been raised. He reared back and slapped me. I fell off my feet.

Later I found him crying in the back room, and he told

me the story of the first time his father ever smacked him. You should have heard his trembling voice. In that moment, my father had become a little boy just like me.

My father was not a bad man. Neither was yours. They were beautiful men who did dumb things. They did the best they could with the crummy cards they were dealt. You and I are doing the same. Let us hope and pray, friend, that nobody holds our worst mistakes against us.

Otherwise, I am totally screwed.

“Hello, Sean, my wife and I both like the name Shawn. But my problem is, I want to name my newborn boy ‘Shawn’ with a W, and my wife wants to name him ‘Shaun’ with a U. What do you think?”

I think you’re both wrong.

“I am 32 and I still haven’t completed high school. I was…

Lake City isn’t a big town. You’re looking at 12,000 folks. Give or take. It’s one of those old Florida towns.

It’s hard to find Old Florida anymore. You can’t find it in Orlando—too many mouse-ear hats. It’s hard to find in Tallahassee—too many congressmen. You can’t find it in Miami—too much incoming fire.

But you can find it in Lake City.

I’m a native Floridian. I spent my feckless youth near the Alabama line, on the Choctawhatchee Bay. We were poor. I was raised on rusty well-water and homemade tatar sauce. We served cheese grits and oysters at Christmas.

Yesterday, I arrived in Lake City early to perform my one-man spasm at the Levy Performing Arts Center.

At soundcheck, I was accompanied by community musicians and fellow Floridians. There were fiddles, clarinets, upright basses, ukuleles, guitars, and banjos. They play rural music. Porch music.

The group is led by Skip Johns, a lifelong resident of Lake City. Skip is not young. His white hair is tied back in a ponytail, he has lines on his face.

He is one of the many unfortunate souls whose lot in life is to play the banjo.

He plays his instrument upside down because that’s the way he taught himself when he was 11 years old.

“I saw my first calf-skin banjo when I’s a kid,” he says. “Fella that owned it was an old man, and he played a tune. Then he handed it to me and he said, ‘You wanna try this thing?’

“‘No, sir,’ I said. ‘I wanna borrow it.’”

Skip went home and taught himself to play left-handed. He is one of the few players in the world to play upside down. Which is exactly how he played the banjo when he appeared on the Grand Ole Opry in ‘79.

“Never forget when my band stepped foot on the Opry stage,” he says. “I was standing there, with my…

I’m in a hotel lobby. It’s breakfast. We are waiting in line for our gruel. Guests congregate around the coffee urn like puppies at the teat until they drain the urn and leave nothing but dregs for us tired huddled masses.

The dining room is full. There are people everywhere.

A group of businessmen at a table, eating their “eggz.” They are talking with important-sounding voices, the way guys do when they’re en masse. Trying to establish who is alpha by public urination contest.

They’re talking about the eclipse.

“This eclipse is no big deal,” one guy says in a macho tone. “I’ve seen an eclipse before.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve seen dozens,” another guy says.

“Oh, yeah?” a guy adds. “Well, I used to watch eclipses every weekend, back when they used to play for Miami.”

There is a young family nearby. A mom, dad, and a few kids. One kid is wearing his glasses, looking at his mother.

“Mom, look!” he says. “I’m wearing my glasses!”

Mom does not even move. She is staring straight ahead, like maybe it’s been a long road trip.

“Mom, look! Mom, look!

Mom, look!”

The woman takes a sip of coffee, she does not look.

“Momlookmomlookmomlookmom…!”

There is an older couple. They are, evidently, in love. They can’t keep their hands off one another. The older woman is mid-70s, wearing cutoff shorts á la Daisy Duke, cut so high they are showing her her everlasting aspirations. The guy is wearing a tank top and it appears that his upper body hasn’t seen the sun since the early Carter Administration.

They are groping each other. They are kissing passionately while waiting in the serving line.

“They’re definitely not married,” says one elderly lady in line, using a walker.

“How can you tell?” I ask.

“Are you married?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see where he grabbed her?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever been grabbed like that?”

“No.”

Today, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit New York City at approximately 10:23 a.m. I got a lot of emails about it. Ron emailed me about it first, only moments after it happened.

He was sitting in a café, after the quake hit, trying to get his heart beating again. “I thought my roof was going to fall in. So I rushed out into the hall and took the elevator down to the street.”

Let it be noted that Ron is a smart professional who attended a good college, holds two degrees, has a good job, and earns a decent median income. And yet he chose to use an elevator during an earthquake evacuation.

“It all happened so fast,” Ron points out.

The earthquake was felt throughout the Tri-State Area, including upstate, and Philadelphia. People felt the impact as far away as Maryland. The U.S. Geological Survey says intense tremors were experienced from Maine to Washington, D.C.

“I was out walking my dog,” said Rita, who lives in Manville, New Jersey. “I felt

things move underneath my feet, and my dog was totally freaking out.”

The first thing Rita did was call her son and ask if he felt it. He lives in Massachusetts. “I could sorta feel it,” he told his mom, “but the stuff on my counters was shaking bad.”

There have been at least four aftershocks since the earthquake hit. None of them serious. There was little damage done. New York got off the hook easy.

But the real story today is about a guy who I'll call Todd.

Todd lives in the Bronx. He’s a construction worker. The Bronx is a borough of New York City that contains the poorest congressional district in the United States. Todd lives in a rundown building with his grandmother.

Todd was with his 72-year-old grandmother when the earthquake hit, feeding her breakfast. She is on oxygen. She has a forest of…