CJ Woods III’s Story Archive

Fathers and Daughters

January 17, 2019 | by CJ Woods III

An associate of my youngest daughter expressed incredulity: “Your father is watching her?” Lauren told me that she replied in the affirmative, with some complimentary words about me, the father who is the weekday caretaker for her 8-month-old daughter. When Lauren’s older sister was four years old, her mother went … Read More

Eight Days of Joy

January 10, 2019 | by CJ Woods III

“Dad, I want to go with you,” Lauren said to me. The days were spiraling down toward the Christmas holidays, and it has been my habit in the past to travel to New Jersey to spend time with Lauren’s sister Lisa, and the first two of my grandchildren. Lauren’s daughter … Read More

The Quality of Mercy

January 3, 2019 | by CJ Woods III

The man leaned forward in his chair, intently watching a news report about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. “Those people are brutal,” he said, pointing at the TV screen. My response was immediate: “Yes. They go into synagogues with AR-15s and murder 11 people.” I was seated to the man’s … Read More

Oh, Holy Night

December 20, 2018 | by CJ Woods III

Two friends became lovers and started a journey together in July 1969, and in September 1970, after travelling thousands of miles from their homes in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, nestled into another home in Los Angeles, California. There, they sought to bring the man’s dreams of being an artist to fruition. This … Read More

Songs for the Children

December 13, 2018 | by CJ Woods III

“Good morning, Crabby Appleton, how do you feel today? Will you laugh and squeal and smile at me, or will you growl and bark and bray?” — CJ Woods, III My lean and football-hardened 14-year-old grandson planted his 150-pound body onto his mother’s lap, an almost nightly ritual between the … Read More