Magazine / Pacifico Reflections

  • What Grows in Your Garden?

    Mike McGough
    August 2023
    He is a meanderer.  When something catches his eye, he is drawn to it like a magnet.  A trip to the store for two or three items can take four to five hours.  Oh, he almost always gets what he goes for, but on the way, he makes numerous other stop...
  • Fireworks

    Mike McGough
    August 2023
    John Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and second President of the United States, penned a letter to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776 offering a summary of how he felt the Declaration of Independence should and would be remembered ea...
  • Something to Think About - Field Corn

    Mike McGough
    July 2023
    They were great people—all of them.  I liked being around them, and I think they enjoyed my company as well.  It was my grandmother and two of my great uncles.  They lived close to each other out in the country.  From the time I was three until...
  • Mac & Cheese

    Mike McGough
    May 2023
    His was a dysfunctional, single-parent family.  That was only until his mother was jailed for drug trafficking.  His Great-Grandmother took him in.  Although she loved this four-year-old and her heart was clearly in the right place, her sparse fin...
  • Warts and All

    Mike McGough
    May 2023
    There was never any real question in his mind, much past fourth grade.  He wanted to teach history and government.  Fourth grade was a tipping point in his thinking about the eternal question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  There ...
  • Some Things Don’t Change

    Mike McGough
    March 2023
    “How have things changed since you were a child?”  Area seniors were asked to respond to this prompt by a local agency on aging.  The agency wanted to create contacts with the senior community, and at the same time learn a little about them.  ...
  • Consumer Ready

    Mike McGough
    March 2023
    If someone is willing to do your work for you, let them.  That is unless you’re really committed and what to be responsible for that work.  One common inducement for letting others do your job or a portion of it, would be if letting them could sa...
  • Another Wasted Day

    Mike McGough
    February 2023
    She began her career with a solid education that provided the hard skills of essential knowledge and nursing practices.  For the next forty-eight years she stayed current, and that enabled her to be a good nurse.  She and those she served were bles...
  • Thankfulness

    Mike McGough
    January 2023
    Covid was still a matter of worry and fear. Gas prices were high and looking to go even higher, serving as a constant reminder that a recession was an ever-present concern. The political climate in the country was brimming with animas, mass shootings...
  • What’s the Rub

    Mike McGough
    December 2022
    Although his general health was fine, his knees weren’t what they once were.  He had surgery to repair his one knee.  After a month off, he was cleared to be back on the road.  He was given certain cautions by his physical therapist, and she off...
  •  Skill Set or Profession

    Mike McGough
    November 2022
    He didn’t particular like heights, so it was a bit of a surprise to his parents when he developed an interest in helicopters.  When he heard one flying over his house, he ran out just to see it.        Fixed-wing aircraft interested him, but ...
  • Captain Happy

    Mike McGough
    October 2022
    He got his first boat in 1969; he named it Miss Tina.  It was old, needed lots of work, and was small.  He was young, somewhat handy when it came to fixing things, and she was big enough to get him started.  For the next seven years he and she wer...
  • Because That’s What I Do

    Mike McGough
    September 2022
    It all started with a box of crayons and a piece of butcher paper, when he was a high school junior.  He and his family were on vacation in Cape May.  They were at dinner at the Filling Station, a restaurant that specialized in fried chicken.  Mea...
  • Ikigai

    Mike McGough
    August 2022
    As a child he was forever building something.  Lincoln logs were a perennial Christmas gift.  He played with them so much he wore them out.  One year he got a Lego set for his birthday.  On the shelf in his shop, he still has a little building b...
  • My Stop

    Mike McGough
    July 2022
    He was new to the company, and she was assigned to help him learn his territory.  They were sales reps for a national electrical supply manufacturer.  Their region had been growing in recent years and the decision was made to split it in half.  Th...
  • Voices

    Mike McGough
    June 2022
    Over the past five years, political frictions, social issues, and a lingering pandemic have taken a toll on their unity.  You’re either with one or the other faction.  Some have definitely aligned themselves, but most haven’t.  Those who haven...
  • Empathy & Opportunity

    Mike McGough
    May 2022
    He started working for the company right out of high school.  His childhood and youth were complicated by an alcoholic mother and a father he never knew.  He was never arrested, but he was close more than once.  He wanted to quit school during his...
  • Cellphones And Personal Choice

    Mike McGough
    April 2022
    Even though he’s had a cell phone for years, the technology continues to fascinate him.  Being able to contact almost anyone, from almost anywhere, almost anytime is a marvel that isn’t lost on him.  He’s old enough to remember telephone part...
  • The Best Listener

    Mike McGough
    March 2022
    His was one of the earliest units mustered into service during the Civil War.  He answered the call to serve in mid-May of 1861, at a group enlistment in what would later be Central Park in Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania.  He enlisted with...
  • Wearing A Smile

    Mike McGough
    February 2022
    She was starting a four-year surgical residency.   On that particular Monday morning, she was attending her first grand round.  On this morning the group she was with included four other surgical residents, the hospital’s chief resident, a profes...