There was a time in my life when I didn’t miss an episode of Cheers . Not because of the plot, which was usually secondary, but because of a central character named Norm Peterson. Norm was my alter ego before I even knew I needed one. He would walk through that barroom door, and before he could make it two steps, the room would sound off in a chorus of “Norm!” I remember watching that entrance and thinking, not about the beer or the bar, but about the feeling. The idea that s

What is it about the ocean and the waves on the beach that speaks so clearly about the relentless march of time, and how our lives are little more than momentary footprints in the sand? We are here for only a moment, until the waves, arriving with the steady beat of a metronome, wash away our presence and return the sand to its natural state. As if we were never there at all. And yet, we were, if only for a moment. The snow is piling up outside my window here in Central New Y

The calendar has turned to fall here in Central New York, and that means only one thing. Pasta. Well, two things. Pasta and friendship. Every September, when the evenings turn cool and crisp and the orchards fill with families chasing apples and cider, I wait for a familiar text from my long-time friend Mike. It always reads the same way: “Check your calendars, boys. It’s time to get AlfredoFest booked.” Almost forty years ago, Mike invited a couple of us over for his homemad