Dusting Off a Valentine from the Family Archives!
Dear Mom, Thanks. Thank you for saving every card I ever made for you. And thank you for carefully taping them in to scrapbook after scrapbook. Preserving them as if they were meant to go to the Smithsonian someday. What you actually created, as I now look at all your efforts forty-some years later, was enough “memories” to fill four…
Read more »
From Ann Landers to Man-Landers
When I was a kid – back in a little town in Nebraska – one of my mom’s favorite things to read every morning was an advice column in the Omaha World Herald . They were written by Ann Landers Ann Landers was a pen name for a woman named Eppie Lederer – and she wrote that column for something like…
Read more »
Teaching My Son Social Skills
Once upon a time, I had a kid who couldn’t keep his hands off anyone. Make that “everyone.” So I enrolled him into Tai Kwon Do classes for what seemed to be years. And I sweated bricks wondering if he’d ever grow out of that phase. He did. He learned a lot. And I learned that sometimes you just need…
Read more »
Save the Last Dance for Dad
My daughter and I went to a Valentine’s Daddy-Daughter Dance. It was in the cafeteria of a local grade school. “Formal,” said the pink flyer she brought home one day. I later learned that meant all fluorescent lights would be off and we’d be dancing to the moonlit glow of a few exit signs. My daughter had one goal for the night. She wanted…
Read more »
The Best Days?
An open letter to every kid who has ever rolled their eyes when an adult said, “Hey, these are the best days of your life!”: What do you mean “The Best Days”? First of all, I’m sorry if that didn’t make you feel better. We weren’t trying to downplay the stress you deal with on a daily basis. We didn’t…
Read more »
Happy 16th, Son. 16 Days and Counting
My youngest son is turning 16 the middle of this month. Yes – youngest. I vividly remember about seven years ago, saying that my oldest son was turning 16. And I recall feeling far too young to be saying that. Today, I just feel old. Like any soon-to-be 16 year-old, my son’s got his mind set on some new wheels.…
Read more »
The Good Side of a Bad Blizzard
As hundreds of thousands of commuters across Chicagoland breathe a collective sigh of relief as we dig our way out of Friday afternoon’s “couldn’t-come-at-a-worse-time” blizzard, this dad woke up to a quite Saturday morning, grateful he wasn’t stuck in four-plus-hours of traffic yesterday, and determined to shovel his way out of the eight inches of snow topping his driveway. I…
Read more »
Erma. And Mom.
My mom was your typical mom of the sixties and seventies. She was a stay-at-home mom (long before the term “stay-at-home” was even used). She was just a mom. Like millions of other women. Overworked. Under-appreciated. And certainly under-represented in media. Then came the refreshing, honest voice of another mom from Dayton, Ohio. Her name was Erma Bombeck. She started…
Read more »
Eulogy for my Brother
Today would have been my brother Kevin’s 57th birthday. He died at the age of 46. I lovingly publish the eulogy I gave for Kevin annually on this day to celebrate him, remember him, and share him. Kevin was the best. He really was. You would have liked him. And, I promise, no matter who you are, Kevin would have found…
Read more »
Sunset
The setting sun tonight was rather breathtaking. I saw it (the photo above is compliments of my iPhone) as I was running into the Apple store at the mall near our house. Breathtaking. I swear it was speaking to me. We’ve been enjoying some pretty terrific weather during the past few weeks. I think I’ve only pulled out my legitimate…
Read more »