I’ve told this story a handful of times over the years, usually when somebody’s talking about the strange things you see when you’re just minding your business. And every time I think of it, I swear I can still smell that briny, kelpy air rolling off the Pacific like it’s trying to shake the dust…

https://tomdarby.podbean.com/

The backwoods church had stood quietly by the creek for years, a humble place built by the man folks called Preacher John. Its rough-hewn beams and hand-sawn boards had once echoed with hymns and soft prayers. But a little more than two years ago, a fire, swift, unkind, and unexplained, had reduced it to ash.…

I once heard someone say, “If the world didn’t suck, everything would fall off,” and I laughed way too hard for a sentence that sounds like it came from a gas station bathroom wall. But the more I thought about it, the more it felt uncomfortably accurate. Not scientifically, obviously, please don’t email me, but…

Somewhere along the way, I started performing my life like there was an invisible audience grading me. I don’t remember signing up for that, but I definitely committed to it. I chose my words carefully and edited my reactions. I wasn’t living so much as curating, and the strange part is that I thought this…

I used to believe there was a specific age where clarity just showed up like a delivery. You open the door one morning, and there it is, confidence, purpose, and a solid explanation for why everything happened the way it did. No assembly required. I don’t know who told me this, but I believed them…

There was a time in this country when a man could sit still, do nothing of consequence, and yet know everything worth knowing, provided he had a radio and the good sense to turn it on at the top of the hour. That arrangement has now been judged inefficient, and so CBS News has announced…

I used to believe control was something you could grip, like a steering wheel. Hands at ten and two, eyes forward, confident that if you paid attention and followed the rules, you’d arrive where you intended. That belief felt responsible. Adult, reassuring, and I liked it. I planned my days, my words, my future with…

I have long held that a quiet evening is the safest place a man can be, which is precisely why I avoid them. Trouble prefers a man at rest, and it found me just as I was minding my own business, doing nothing of consequence and doing it well. The incident began with a bite,…

Many people have their own quirks due to their excesses and wastefulness. I didn’t arrive at that conclusion through deep study or a documentary. I figured it out standing in my kitchen at midnight, holding a half-eaten yogurt I didn’t remember opening, staring into a refrigerator that looked like a crime scene of good intentions.…