Author Archives: Bryan W. Fields

Assigned to clean the storeroom during one of my wife’s semiannual organization rampages, I sift through the jumbled piles of stuff with the determined patience of a paleontologist. Broken toys, tattered magazines, dog-eared paperbacks, old stereo speakers. Wow. I’d forgotten I still own three eight-track players. Working my way to a stack of suitcases in […]

Photo: Loretta Hostettler January 1966. Dad and I sat at the kitchen table for an entire weekend to make my first Pinewood Derby car. We took turns whittling on a huge pine block with my new Cub Scout pocketknife, then sanded, primed, masked, painted, and lacquered until we had a glossy piece of craftsmanship that […]

My youngest daughter is running inside, breathless with excitement. “Daddy, Daddy, the man from Rooms To Burn is here!” I look out the window. Sure enough, a big white bobtail with colorful, happy letters is parked backwards in my driveway. A sort of French-looking guy (no moustache, just kind of short and stocky with a […]

My wife and I have what can be considered by today’s standards a large family — five kids, instead of the two-point-three that most of our neighbors have. It’s something we’re proud of — people are always awestruck when we tell them. “Five kids?” they gasp. “I’ve got my hands full with just two!” Or […]