Earlier this week our children’s elementary school went into lockdown. I don’t know all the details, but the pieces of the story that I’ve gathered suggest that a note was found in the boys bathroom claiming someone brought a weapon to school. When I was in elementary school — more than 25 years ago (yikes!) […]
A few months ago Joey found my poker chips. They had been in the basement collecting dust with most of the other things I brought home from college. There was a time when poker was a pretty big part of my life, but it’s been a while since I last played. Of course, Joey had […]
Despite being two weeks into 2017, I have yet to fully let go of 2016. That’s not usual for me. But 2016 was an unusual year. I don’t know about you, but I read and heard many people express that they couldn’t wait for it to end. They were almost hostile toward it. Some even […]
Six months. One hundred eighty-two days. A half a year. However you want to slice it it’s a number that knocks me over today. That’s how long it’s been since I last hugged my dad. I talk to him every day. And sometimes I hear him talk back. But it’s been exactly twenty-six weeks since […]
I tend to write most often about issues that live within the four walls of a family. Sometimes, I focus even more specifically on the four walls of the reader’s head. I like to think that’s helpful to people. But I also know that sometimes you have to take a step back and look at […]
Being hypocritical is not a requirement to become a parent, it’s more like a symptom of becoming one. Still, hypocrisy is one of my major pet peeves, so I try hard to avoid acting that way. It’s not always easy. I don’t think all people who act hypocritically do it on purpose. Not all the […]
Whether your child is two weeks old or two decades, by now you’ve probably realized something: you’re not perfect. No parent is. I know it may seem like some are. But remember this: that house you’re visiting — you know, the one that’s immaculate and without a single toy or loose item strewn about — […]
Fast results. Quick responses. Minimal effort. We want everything to happen sooner than right now. We latch onto overnight successes and laud their “sudden achievement” rather than acknowledge their climb up the dark side of the mountain. We fail to recognize the momentum that swings them into our awareness during their moment of glory. It […]
The basic nature of parenting is that we want to give our children better than we had. Whether it’s financial, emotional, physical or anything else, we want their lives to be better than ours. No matter how fantastic our childhood, we’re always trying to make things better for them. Usually that is a very noble […]
When I named this blog Lessons and Love I thought the title made perfect sense. Teach my children the lessons life has taught me and shower them with love in the process. As much as I still like that name, I’m beginning to think maybe I had it backwards. Maybe it should be love first, […]
