I was never the child with fingers splayed, the tips topped with ten black olives borrowed from a Thanksgiving relish tray. The idea of putting olives on my fingers nauseated me. I left it to my siblings and cousins to play with the cursed fruit as appetizer turned holiday-doldrum diversion. Bacon-flavored cheese squeezed out of […]

“Sometimes you have to play hurt.”

It’s a phrase I heard often in childhood. The source was my dad, an avid football fan. I’d watch games with him and was fascinated by players on the field who were nursing injuries but continued doing their jobs—rocketing into the air despite tightly wrapped sprained ankles, catching […]