Surviving the Firsts

How My Dad Set An Example 27 Years Ago That Helped Me Get Through My First Christmas Without Him

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 […]

4 Things I Learned From Joe Biden’s “Note to Self”

Joe Biden's Note to Self

A few days ago CBS News published a story on Vice President Joe Biden. I’m not especially prone to an interest in politics, so I don’t know a whole lot about specifics of his accomplishments in office. From my non-political position, I consider Biden’s greatest contribution to be his empathetic nature. He exudes such a […]

The Time I Gave Up On Parenting and Why You Should Too

Parenting is hard. Whether it’s one child, three children, or ten, parenting is hard damn work. For those of us in the throes of it, this is not a mind-blowing revelation. But it is one we should acknowledge more often. It’s also something we should be honest about. If we’re being honest, we admit that […]

Kids Say the Darnedest Things…And Then They Stop

For some time now, I’ve wondered (and written) about the way that “lasts” occur in our lives. Especially when it comes to the growth of our kids. We pay so much attention to the first time they walk, that we don’t think about how it’s also the last time they’ll crawl — out of necessity […]

What Would (or Wouldn’t) You Tell Your 16-Year-Old Self?

One of my favorite new websites is one called Upworthy. It’s a collection of topics, videos and ideas that their staff has curated from the internet. All of their content is somehow tied in to social issues that we are faced with. I don’t always agree with their stance, but the ideas usually do make […]