“Afternoon delight, cocktails and moonlit nights, that dreamy look in your eye, give me a tropical contact high Way down in Kokomo” – from “Kokomo” by The Beach Boys Back in my collegiate days in Philadelphia, I lived at home with my parents and commuted to the campus via train; every day. During my freshman year, I met and fell hopelessly in love with a cute Irish girl who lived only a few blocks from our home. Peggy was...

I exited I-275 North in St. Petersburg, and picked up Gandy Boulevard heading to Tampa. It was early on a beautiful Florida Spring Saturday morning, and Leslie and I were heading to South Tampa to look at a sailboat that had been advertised for sale. Classic rock boomed from the speakers in my Jeep Wrangler and the warm air wafted through the open windows of the soft top. Les rhythmically tapped her left hand on my right...

Shortly after relocating to the Gulf Coast of Florida, and once getting my life under control, I started to reach out to see about finding someone to hang out with. I wasn't looking for a relationship, so to speak, nor for just a physical contact. I'd been alone and a single father for many years after my wife passed away suddenly, and very young. So I hadn't had much of a social life for a while. But now, with my daughte...