The Third Time's the Charm: Still Foolin' Around in Bed (The Wired Researcher)

Finding Meaning in Life's Small Moments

Whether you're reading in bed, on a favorite chair, or anywhere your journey takes you, The Third Time's the Charm: Still Foolin' Around in Bed promises to entertain, uplift, and inspire. Settle in and let the journey begin. In his third volume of delightfully thought-provoking essays, master storyteller Dr. Brent L. Kendrick invites readers into the most intimate spaces-both literal and metaphorical-of a life lived fully and authentically.

From the Appalachian coal camps of childhood to the deep connections forged with family, friends, and a loyal canine companion, these essays explore the complexities of joy and loss, solitude and connection, memory and reinvention with warmth, wit, and unflinching honesty. Stories of dust bunnies and online dating, gardening and global warming, grief, and the wonder of AI offer a window into the universal truths that shape our lives, reminding readers that their own "postage stamp" is as unique and rich as the soil it's rooted in.

Dr. Brent L. Kendrick is an award-winning essayist, educator, and retired civil servant with a lifelong talent for turning everyday moments into something quietly extraordinary. After 25 years at the Library of Congress and 23 more teaching English at Laurel Ridge Community College, he now devotes himself to writing, gardening, and foolin' around-on the page, that is. He's the foremost authority on Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, having edited two landmark volumes of her work-The Infant Sphinx: Collected Letters of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1985) and Green Mountain Stories (2023). His own essay collections-In Bed: My Year of Foolin' Around (2023) and More Wit and Wisdom (2024)-blend wit, warmth, and reflection in bite-sized meditations on everything from aging and angels to love and late-night musings. Honored with numerous awards for teaching, service, and philanthropy, Kendrick invites readers to find humor, meaning, and maybe a little magic in the ordinary. For him, learning isn't a phase-it's a lifelong pursuit.