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Wild Krumpos

Month

November 2025

13 entries

  1. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    Childhood time is circular. Seasons repeat without urgency. Days loop and blend.

    Childhood time is circular. Seasons repeat without urgency. Days loop and blend. You don’t “lose” time; you just exist inside it. Then somewhere — often around adolescence — time snaps into a line. A progression. A conveyor belt. A deadline…

  2. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    Draft / emotional inheritance map

    Draft / emotional inheritance map When I read through my mother’s journals, a pattern becomes unmistakable: Sacrifice was the currency of love. Everything was done “even though” it was hard. Money was always tight “but God would provide.” Time was…

  3. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    The fake flowers on the morning school walk with my son triggered something

    The fake flowers on the morning school walk with my son triggered something I didn’t expect — a small, bright flash of my own childhood. We didn’t have many flowers growing around the farmstead. Winters killed everything. But I remember…

  4. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    I don’t want to abandon the “interesting life.”

    I don’t want to abandon the “interesting life.” I want to refine it. I want my child to grow up around: • art • story • music • ritual • the living world • creativity as normalcy • parents who…

  5. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    Draft / identity processing

    Draft / identity processing I was not a “little adult.” I was, if anything, a late developer — the kid who loved toys into adolescence, who played in the sandbox until twelve, who preferred drawing to chores, who found magic…

  6. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    Draft / memory + gratitude

    Draft / memory + gratitude One thing I can say without doubt: I was raised inside a village. My mom took us everywhere — hospitals, nursing homes, neighbors’ houses, prayer meetings, casseroles delivered in Pyrex, errands for elderly relatives, hair-fixing…

  7. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    Draft / pragmatic reflection

    Draft / pragmatic reflection One of the questions I keep turning over is whether my cautiousness around money is wisdom… or inherited fear. My parents were heroic with their frugality: every dollar stretched, every purchase planned. They took risks only…

  8. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    Draft / memoir entry

    Draft / memoir entry I keep circling this question: why do I hunger for an “interesting” life? Not glamorous, not Instagram-worthy, but mythic — textured, strange, handmade, meaningful. It didn’t come from nowhere. I grew up on a small, ramshackle…

  9. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    Draft / reflection on parenting

    Draft / reflection on parenting Now that I’m a parent myself, I keep asking: Does interesting require chaos? Does stability require boredom? My wife and I are building a life rooted in art, story, ritual, place. A downtown building for…

  10. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    Scarcity shaped me.

    Scarcity shaped me. Abundance tempted me. Both confused me. I grew up watching money stretch thin across weeks. Savings were theoretical. Debt was normal. Supply chains were mysterious and vaguely immoral. Wealth felt like something other people had, and maybe…

  11. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    I was a maker from the beginning — that part survived fundamentalism, poverty,

    I was a maker from the beginning — that part survived fundamentalism, poverty, grief, debt, confusion, and whatever flavor of adulthood I’ve lived. What got stripped away wasn’t the creativity. It was the permission to trust it. Everything I’ve ever…

  12. Monday, November 24, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    The Winter Where the Pipes Froze

    One winter the pipes froze for three days. We melted snow in pots on the woodstove. We flushed toilets with buckets of water carried from the barn. I remember thinking it was a grand adventure. My parents did not. Adults…

  13. Wednesday, November 26, 2025 · Don Krumpos

    Three blocks.

    Three blocks. He stops at every fake flower to dust off frost. He studies insect tracks. He admires stick bugs like miracle creatures. I want to hurry him. I don’t hurry him. This is the paradox of adulthood: I need…