Dr. Dirt

Introduction I hate long introductions, so will keep this short. I am the son of a landscaper who became a doctor, spent 25 years in the medical profession, and then went back to landscaping. People wondered if I was crazy to give up the big bucks and glory of being a doctor in order to dig holes, mow lawns, lay sod, and do other landscaping duties. I am a bit crazy, after all, and was willing to give up the stressful lifestyle of doctoring in order to be “just a landscaper,” and also try my hand at creative writing. But I will always be a doctor. I still dream about patient care scenarios, and I try to help people in need. It is a part of my personality. I have many fond memories of the people I met and cared for – and include anecdotes of those experiences in my writing. And I will always be a landscaper – even after my arthritic knee doesn’t allow me to do this kind of work anymore. That is just one example of the dichotomies that govern our lives. We are all more than what we do – and we are always both this and that, parent and child, male and female, young and old, good and bad, and so on. My first book, "Crazy Like Me: Memories and Musings of a Retired Small Town Doctor" (CLM), explored some of these life paradoxes. It was a tongue-in-cheek semi-fictional memoir. I hate to give the plot away, but the book explored the reality of the fact that “everybody is a little bit crazy. . . some more and some less.” It never made it to the “Best Seller List,” but did sell a respectable number of copies in my geographic region. CLM helped launch my career as a landscaper and a writer. Since my main character was a landscaper, the local newspapers thought I was marketing myself as a landscaping expert. They asked me to write a “landscaping advice” column. I sarcastically named my weekly column “Dr. Dirt”, and started cranking out weekly columns . . . Before long I ran out of things to say about landscaping topics, though, so I started writing about the philosophical meaning of “Good Dirt” and other farfetched topics. My editor received positive feedback on my articles, so he let me write about whatever I wanted. My column now includes items of great diversity: humorous anecdotes, book reviews, feeble attempts at poetry, personality profiles, sentimental reflections, psychology, politics, spiritual matters, medical topics, and so on, and so forth. Readers have suggested that I compile a “Best Of” collection of my newspaper columns. This book is an attempt to respond to those requests – and an attempt to satisfy my own need to put my thoughts down on paper. I was going to call this book “Best of Dirt” or “Bits and Pieces”. It probably doesn’t matter what I call it, though. Some people are going to like it, and others aren’t. Many people won’t bother to read it at all. But if you do, you will realize that Dr. Dirt contains many slices of life that you will enjoy, and many topics that you can relate to. Most of the stories and articles in this collection have been previously published. They contain the date they were originally published, and knowing that may help you to realize that the news, as such, goes in cycles. Occasionally there are references to local or temporal matters that are no longer important. But remember that it’s not what changes in the world that matters – it’s the changes inside us that are most important. Many articles in this collection have been revised from their original format. Some of the stories are brand new. These entries of verities and balderdash are organized in sections of somewhat related material. But don’t feel obliged to read this book in any particular order. Life only seems to travel in a straight line . . . It is okay to let our minds jump from one topic to another in a circular (and even random) manner.