A few days before Christmas, our daughter asked me: How did you know [Mom] was The One? [Now, this young woman is not our biological daughter. She’s not even really adopted–she came to us when she was eighteen, five or six years ago. But we’ve claimed her, and she us, and we can’t imagine our […]
I’m a little late on the 2013 retrospectives; most of our media sources are already falling over themselves to forget 2013, or at least to start making predictions for 2014. But I want to take a few days this month to honor people whose efforts I think are worth remembering. Are they heroes? Teddy Roosevelt […]
You Only Have To Beat An Excuse Once | IMPOSSIBLE. I just discovered Joel Runyon’s IMPOSSIBLEblog, and I’m impressed. His advice in the New Year’s Day article I’ve linked above is spot on, particularly this line: Action puts fear to death. It’s true. To accomplish anything, we have to start. And starting makes continuing easier. […]
It’s a new year. Time to cast off our old selves and become something new. Almost all of us try to do just that this time of year, to cast aside the parts we don’t like and become who we dream we could be. We promise ourselves–we resolve–really to do it this year, to make […]
Have you ever seen a drumline perform? Or a pipe-and-drum corps? Or a marching band? Mick Fleetwood or Neal Peart, maybe (am I dating myself with those names)? It can be deafening, even without amps or microphones. The potential noise production of three toddlers, with or without pots to bang on, is roughly equivalent to […]
It’s normal to want people’s attention. During the holidays, when pretty much everybody’s attention is focused on something other than us–cooking, the beautiful lights, the kids opening their presents, family we don’t get to see very often, or a hundred other things–it’s entirely understandable. But it’s not always healthy, for us or the people we […]
I’ve never understood this line of the song. Why would lords leap? It occurs to me, though, that it might be pretty boring to be a lord. Your whole existence is based on who you are, or more importantly, who you parents are. People expect nothing of you except that you’ll act the way they […]
Some folks don’t seem to be able to rest. They putter around the house, or the yard, fixing this, straightening that, tidying the other thing. They always have a project, always something that needs doing. They, like the rest of us, never seem to get it all done–but they never stop moving. It’s exhausting just […]
There’s a lot of work to do this time of year. Hanging lights, putting up the tree, buying presents, wrapping presents, cleaning house, cooking. And cooking. And cooking. That’s if we’re hosting a holiday gathering. If not, we’re probably traveling to one. Which means packing everything into the car and going, across town or across […]
Every family has its holiday traditions. Whether it’s as simple as everybody gathering at Grandma’s for Christmas dinner, or going out on a certain date to pick a tree, or putting up the ornaments just so, or as elaborate as snow football followed by hot chocolate followed by It’s a Wonderful Life followed by dinner […]