CJ Woods III’s Story Archive

I’ll Dance For You

September 4, 2014 | by CJ Woods III

My friend called me, distraught; she had heard the news of the death of a beloved celebrity. “I feel like I’ve lost a family friend,” she said. I listened as she mourned, but I made few comments. I once stood in misery on a dock in Florida as that same … Read More

1969

August 28, 2014 | by CJ Woods III

I have a few thousand songs on my iPod, which play as I fall asleep at night. I will sometimes waken to a song that I must climb from my bed to identify, but in the weeks before the publication of this column, I often woke to more familiar offerings … Read More

Let ’Em Eat Fish

August 21, 2014 | by CJ Woods III

In 1975, while living in Los Angeles CA, my first bride and I vacationed in Nassau. On our return, we visited relatives in Pittsburgh. During this visit my bride and I went to see a movie. At its end, I said to her, “If I had seen Jaws before we … Read More

Astonished By Song

August 14, 2014 | by CJ Woods III

“I introduced you to our Eva,” my good friend said, and I felt a brief flash of jealousy and wonder, having forgotten the truth in that. I then remembered standing on a ladder over her toilet, reaching to her bathroom ceiling to repair loosened wallpaper. In the background of the … Read More

Baby Jess

August 9, 2014 | by CJ Woods III

“Baby Jess needs you,” said the text from my eldest daughter, Lisa, at 9:40 p.m. on July 3rd.  “I’m almost there,” was my reply. My very good friend has two daughters, both of whom call me “Uncle.” Lisa has held the infant “Baby Jess” on her lap. While visiting Indianapolis … Read More