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.

Rich: The Tinker diaries

In my office is a beige wicker suitcase with brown leather straps.Inside are 32 handwritten diaries produced by Charlie Tinker during his years working at the White House for his cherished friend, Abraham Lincoln.In another area, squirreled away by Tink, is a hand-duplicated set of those diaries.

Rich: The magical romance of trains

Whenever Tink and I visit Greenwood, Mississippi, one of our favorite places, we stay at the small Alluvian Hotel.“Please, Denise,” I ask the front desk manager, “put us as close to the train as possible.”She laughs delightedly.

Rich: One million words

One million words ago, I started this column.That’s a lot of stories to tell.Additionally, I have written eleven books, including one that was turned into a television movie and one that is closing in on its 50th printing.

Rich: Brent’s extraordinary father

Brent’s birth, when he joined his sister, Laurie, and brother, Jay, on an Autumn day, was joyous.Brent, looking straight into his mother’s eyes, smiled with an abundance of sweetness. He was happy to meet the world that he would be his new home.