Magazine / Pacifico Reflections

  • What Can I Do Now?

    Mike McGough
    February 2024
    She was a kind and generous person.  She became a nurse when that was the only real option for girls wanting to go into the medical field.  That was unless they had some legacy connection to the profession though a family member.  There was no dou...
  • Knowing Why

    Mike McGough
    February 2024
    It was the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and he, just like countless others, began thinking about his resolution for the coming year.  As was his usual, he’d resolve to start doing something, stop doing something, or do something more o...
  •  Take Me Out to the Ball Game

    Mike McGough
    January 2024
    The growingly divisive nature of politics was off-putting to him.  He saw friendships dissolve, family members disgruntled with each other, and an ongoing rush to judgment, that in way too many cases was based on what one network offered as opposed ...
  •  Something Else

    Mike McGough
    November 2023
    Her mother and father were both graduates of the class of 1889 of Millersville Normal School.  Millersville, like other normal schools, was developed for the training of teachers in the “norms” of how children learn and how best to support and g...
  • Life’s Tunnels

    Mike McGough
    November 2023
    At 22, he became a patrol officer.  As a rookie, there was a lot to learn; it was a steep learning curve.  At times he had to look hard to see the light at the end of his tunnel.  He was committed, and in time he became a dedicated officer who enj...
  • 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...