Rich: Gunsmoke

Tink and I were in Los Angeles on business.That’s the only reason we go. We had a few hours between meetings.He said, “I’d like to take you out to the Radford lot.”Radford is a studio a bit off the beaten path from other studios.

Rich: The light of wisdom

By the time I was 21, my good parents had taught me much of what they knew. And, that was a lot. Some of it had been hard learned in the mountains, some came from town life, and some were just born in them.

Rich: The cabin

Dust to dust, ashes to ashes is the way we often say it. But the King James Bible says it more eloquently, “For dust thou art and unto dust, thou shall yield.

Rich: The cowboy rides away

Three years ago, Tink and I attended my all-time favorite event. It is the induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Songwriters are my favorite of all writers. In three minutes, they tell a story that hangs in your heart meaningfully.

Rich: Grave digging

Most of the local tellings — it’s not gossip — come from two places: the beauty shop and the funeral home.When Tink moved to the rural South, he had only been to two funerals in his life. On average, we have a visitation or a funeral about once a week. He’s become a pro.

Rich: Back in 1937

When she talked about those tribulations back in 1937, her feeble voice crackled with both age and emotion. With over 70 years separating them from now, the grief still lingered, but wisdom had covered it like moss on a riverbank.

Rich: Roosevelt and the ‘governmint’ cheese

Most admire Franklin D. Roosevelt, a crafty, pleasant, get-it-done type of president.He had been raised as an only child to his mother and father, though he had step-siblings. He was tremendously spoiled but not in the way that turned him mean.

Rich: The marble girl

It’s no secret – in fact, it’s becoming “fabled” pretty quickly – that Tink and I come from worlds as far apart as Mars and Jupiter.

Rich: The homeless

It was many winters ago in Washington, D.C., that I saw my first homeless person. He was lying over a warm vent atop the Metro train. Behind him, across the street, the Washington Monument stood gloriously bathed in light.

Rich: Jay, the good shepherd

It is conventional wisdom that you should never do business with family. And, for the most part, that is probably true.Unless that family member is an honorable, God-fearing man like the one that my niece, Nicole, was wise enough to marry and bring into our family.