Not every story fits neatly into a category, yet each one carries its own spark of meaning. This collection gathers a variety of essays, reflections, and moments—some lighthearted, some profound—that capture the spirit of discovery, connection, and life’s surprising turns. Together, they form a mosaic of experiences that remind us how every story, big or small, has something to teach.
There is no longer a sequel in the works and Michael Keaton, at least as of now, has yet to come down with the Coronavirus (unlike his contemporary Tom Hanks, who always seems to get the part). Hollywood, we are told, is shut down and sheltering in place. But that…
Casey’s Introduction https://youtu.be/JB_VvgY9grM By: Christopher Ramirez On May 18, 2016, my father suffered a massive stroke that left him paralyzed from the nose down, with only the ability to blink his eyes and move them up and down. He was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit at a hospital in…
Introduction. I’ve written a lot about my mother, Barbara Jane Case Gauntt, aka Barb, in other stories posted on Write Me Something Beautiful. She is featured in Class of 1939, One Suitcase, and Happy Birthday Barb. She also appears in Vern Case, I Saw Her Standing There and Grover C. Gauntt, Jr.-The…
“You’re finding pennies aren’t you?” A few months after we lost our son Jimmy, my wife Hilary, Jimmy’s older sister, Brittany, and I went to see Tarra. Tarra is a medium and was recommended to us as “the real deal” by another family who had also lost a son. …
I found a newspaper clipping tucked deep in a very worn and beat up leather bound book titled An American Bible, written by Elbert Green Hubbard and edited by his wife, Alice. This 1912 anthology cradles the biographies of some of this country’s most influential citizens of the time—if not…
Casey and Jimmy Gauntt wrote and published their first book in 2016. Suffering is the Only Honest Work — Casey Gauntt Jimmy Gauntt—personable, brilliant Jimmy—died at age twenty-four, struck by an automobile. The promising young man’s death shattered his father Casey’s heart. And yet, in the coming months, Casey and…
How to write a beautiful condolence card to someone who has lost a loved one to suicide By Casey Gauntt Unfortunately I also have personal experience with this most challenging task. When I was twenty years old my father, Grover Cleveland Gauntt, Jr., the strongest man I knew, died by…
(Reverse Spoiler Alert: Please read first The Letter, Living Large and Gravity) Free Fall By Casey Gauntt Late December, 1970 My memory of the next couple of weeks is mostly shrouded in fog punctuated with a few lucid moments of predominantly pain and grief laced with surrealism. The two rocks…
By Casey Gauntt “I just can’t buy Christianity; that Jesus Christ and the religion founded upon his miraculous birth and resurrection is the only path to heaven. All I know is this—here—right now—this moment with you, this meal, this conversation. “This is what I believe: When I talk to my…
By: Rev. Patrick J. O’Malley and Casey Gauntt A couple of weeks after I put up the story of my grandfather Vern Case on Write Me Something Beautiful, I received this comment from someone far back in my past. Rev. Patrick O’Malley September 24, 2011 at 3:00 pm I am…
By Hilary Gauntt Just thought I’d share this “sign” that made our day on Friday, August 1st. Casey and I went to an annual party of Casey’s 20-year clients at the Del Mar racetrack. Casey loves this party because it’s packed with real estate developers, bankers and lawyers from all…
Gravity By Casey Gauntt Reader Alert—read The Letter, Impeccable Timing, For Jon and the Vern Case stories first Flashback from The Letter, Impeccable Timing and For Jon I left the shaft job and my new friends in Coalwood, West Virgnia in late August, 1968 and flew home to Chicago. Ten…
This is a time-seasoned, deeply-felt response to Jeff Schwartz’s story published six months back you can read here: Why I Believe in Angels Why I Believe in Angels and Miracles —Casey’s Epilogue By: Casey Gauntt Jeff’s beautiful story deeply resonated with Hilary, Brittany and me. We too encountered some angels…
December 21, 2010 This day, forty years ago, my father took his life in his office at Case Foundation Company in a suburb of Chicago. In addition to the ones that spooled out and are described in this story, there is a whole bunch of other bizarre synchronicities that specifically…
Suffering Is The Only Honest Work By Casey Gauntt This story is because of Tom Strickler and his drive, leadership, mentorship, generosity and love for Jimmy Gauntt. Jimmy first met Tom in 2006. As a founding partner of Endeavor—now William Morris Endeavor— one of the most powerful entertainment agencies in…
Introduction of Roshi Genro Gauntt This next leg of the journey led me—or rather I should say my older brother Grover, aka Roshi, Genro, Kamanzi and G.G.—took me to Central Africa. My brother, deep in his soul, has been a Zen Buddhist as long as I have known him, notwithstanding…
Impeccable Timing By Casey Gauntt December 22, 2010 A friend of mine sent me an email at my office. It wasn’t directed only to me—there was a gaggle (forgive me, James Lipton) of addressees: Subject: Merry Christmas from Johnny Carson Johnny Carson once quipped: “I know a man who gave…
Introduction By Casey Gauntt Jeff Schwartz shared with us a story we put up on the site a couple of years ago titled Lions On The Bridge. It is a terrific story but, as Jeff explains below, it was only a tune-up for the heavy lifting he had to do…
The Rabbit Hole Letters By Casey Gauntt [Note: the events in this story take place between April and August of 2009] Rabbit Hole: An entrance to a rabbit’s burrow or warren; a bizarre or difficult state or situation; a portal into a different, strange world; and all of the above….
Introduction By: Casey Gauntt Hugh Sill and I reconnected in February of 2011 in a very powerful way. A mutual friend of ours, John Morehouse, facilitated the reunion. Hugh and I were pledge brothers at USC, picked pineapples one college summer in Maui with John, a football player from Cornell,…
—INTRODUCTION Jimmy Gauntt spent his senior year of college at the Queen Mary School in London studying English literature and acting. There, he met Dav Yendler who was spending a year abroad from the University of California, San Diego. They became good friends and took several classes together. Hilary, Brittany,…
[Reverse SPOILER ALERT: Are you one of our many NEW weekend readers spending some quality time here? If so, I’d suggest reading some previously-published stories before continuing with this story –if– you desire the “full effect.” Those would be: McKenzie’s Field-Ole Ole Olsen, and Want To Go For A Ride?….
Condolences By: Casey Gauntt In the days and weeks following Jimmy’s death we received hundreds—maybe even a thousand— cards, letters and emails from family, friends and colleagues, and also from more than a few people we didn’t even know, expressing their sympathies and condolences for the tragic loss of our…
Happy Birthday, Barb By: Casey Gauntt and Brittany and Ryan Kirby On Saturday, July 28, 2012, I was in the garage of our house in Solana Beach sifting through boxes of some of my mother’s things we had recently brought over from her house in Encinitas. I was specifically looking…
Introduction Before we get into the next story, Happy Birthday, Barb, there’s another one about birthdays that needs to be revealed first because of their uncanny similarities. You see, there was more to the story of The Letter than what has previously been shared. Something else happened on November 8,…
Princess Gantt—For The Birds By: Casey Gauntt January 6, 2012 I awoke—well I got out of bed, I’d been awake for a half hour or so—around 6:30. I went downstairs to turn on the heater (we hate the autopilot), got the papers and came back upstairs to make coffee. Dating…
By Casey Gauntt December 2011 I’m pretty sure our cat lost her hearing. I’ve been conducting a series of experiments over the last several weeks and the results all seem to point to a diagnosis of stone-deaf. Originally named ‘Prince’ by our kids until the vet upon closer inspection begged…
The Ghostwriter By Casey Gauntt Ghostwriter: A professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports or other texts that are officially credited to another person. [Source: Wikipedia] Paranormal: Not scientifically explainable. [Source: Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary] Over the 2009 Christmas holiday my older brother, Grover, came to…
Want To Go For A Ride?By Casey Gauntt [Reverse SPOILER ALERT: Are you one of our many weekend readers spending some quality time here? If so, I’d suggest reading some previously-published stories before continuing with this story –if– you desire the “full effect.” Those would be: The Letter, McKenzie’s Field-Ole Ole Olsen, and…
Introduction. Luke Adams and Jimmy Gauntt were close friends since they began tumbling around in diapers in 1984. They even looked alike with their reddish hair, quick-to-burn fair skin, freckles and lanky athletic builds Scotland’s Andy Murray and these boys could be mistaken for cousins. Luke, a year older, was…
Introduction. My wife Hilary has always loved music. There are three songs, in particular, that have been running in and out of Hilary’s life. Here’s her story about one of them. Let It Be By: Hilary Gauntt Still deeply mourning our adored son Jimmy, we joined our friends Terri and…
The Inspiration Erik Shepner walked to the podium on the stage of the Mandeville Auditorium at the University of California San Diego campus and spoke to over one thousand mourners assembled for our son Jimmy’s memorial service on August 15, 2008. Jimmy, only 24 years old, was accidentally struck and…
Introduction to the Class of 1939 Anthony “Tony” Valdivia maintains a list of the “active” members of his graduating class from University High School in West Los Angeles —at least those that he’s been able to stay in touch with. He’s been doing this for 73 years as one of…
The third annual Jimmy Gauntt Memorial Award celebration remembers the alumnus, a poet, musician and playwright, while recognizing stellar undergraduate seniors in USC Dornsife’s Department of English. By Michelle Salzman May 9, 2012 The Jimmy Award, named in honor of alumnus Jimmy Gauntt, recognizes outstanding seniors in the English department…
Introduction In April of 2011, I ran across this wonderful story written by Aaron Burgin for the San Diego Union Tribune. It’s another true tale about a long forgotten letter that travelled half way around the world and lay dormant in a box for 67 years until its current, random,…
The Program By Courtney Day I went to Torrey Pines High School with Jimmy Gauntt in Del Mar, California. I graduated in 2001 and Jimmy in 2002. I met his parents, Casey and Hilary, six years later at his funeral. My friend Traci recently sent me the link to Write…
Jimmy and Me By John Dale August 15, 2008 If this were anyone else, I would have asked Jimmy to write this for me, so I would seem a much better writer. [boisterous laughter] Jimmy and I were writing partners and comedy partners since college, so forgive me if I…
By Casey Gauntt We are never completely free of the instruments that fashioned us. –Henrietta Ellis Case (1952). Henrietta Ellis Case is my maternal grandmother and was born December 28, 1897 in Glennville, a small farming town about thirty miles northeast of Bakersfield, California, and nestled in the foothills of…
This is difficult to write as it happened in less than a minute, and could be construed as a combination of jet lag, wishful thinking, and coincidence. But I need to get it down on paper, so that when I look back years from now I will be reminded of…
Introduction Patti Johnson is from Collins, Ohio, and she is “the lady who does historical research as a hobby in Ohio” briefly mentioned in Charlie Myers’ story Stepping Into The Twilight Zone. As alluded to by Charlie, there is a much bigger, almost unbelievable, story of how Patti came to…
Connecticut Bridge Lion (also known as the Taft Bridge) Lions On The Bridge By Jeff Schwartz Christmas Eve – December 24, 2011 @ Chow Haven Farm, Maui, HI with you and Molly Dear Donna, For your Christmas gift this year, you asked for something simple – to “write…
—Your Time August 15, 2008 When remembering your life and death Jim, I am compelled to disregard my standard perceptions of time, a soul such as yours stretches far beyond such worldly limitations. Time was not boundary to you, nor a frame of reference; rather it was a vehicle, a…
Very late in the evening of the day Jimmy died, our son-in law, Ryan Kirby, returned to Solana Beach from a fishing trip cut short in Alaska with his father and two brothers. Our daughter Brittany had already moved in with us as our storm was raging all around, and…
Sergio Robles is a brother-in-law of our good friends, Penny and Frank Dudek. Sergio and his wife Pam live in Honolulu where they are educators. Sergio was born and raised in Argentina and had a distinguished twenty six year career as a senior officer of the Argentine Marine Corps. We’ve…
Isaiah 65:24 By Casey Gauntt Emily Buckberry forwarded to me an email she got from her brother, Joe Bill. It looked like something already well-traveled on the web. A couple of days earlier I had asked her a question that had been on my mind for quite some time, and…
The Early Years 1919-1946 Introduction A couple of months after our son Jimmy died and a week or so before I got ‘the call’ from Emily Sue Buckberry, we were having dinner with our daughter, Brittany. She told Hilary and me that over the last year Jimmy had become very…
