With four kids in our one family, as a dad I often felt like I was being pulled in four different directions at the same time. The kids are older now and three of them are on their own, but back when they were little, managing this even slightly well seemed almost impossible, like trying [...]
Read more →1. Write a hand-written letter to someone 2. Go for a long walk 3. Drink more water 4. Make an effort to chat someone up in public 5. Read a new book 6. Write in a journal 7. Talk about your emotional baggage with a counselor 8. Start a blog or a website 9. Take [...]
Read more →Did you ever wonder why there is fuzz on peaches? I grew up near peach orchards so it’s very normal for me to talk and write about peach fuzz. Just like humans have hair on their bodies to protect their skin, peaches have fuzz on them to protect them from sunburn and potential water loss, [...]
Read more →Every year the Westminster Kennel Club holds its annual dog show in an effort to crown somebody’s pet as top dog. This time-honored tradition has been going on since 1907 when the first pooch was awarded the coveted trophy. This year the honor went to a Scottish Deerhound named Hickory. There were several other prizes [...]
Read more →I love being a dad. It’s one of the greatest privileges a man has in life. As a dad, I get to hear the pitter-patter of little feet telling me that a hug is on its way. I get to clean out the sand in the back of the minivan after a trip to [...]
Read more →Years ago, when my son was younger, I remember talking with him, well I guess you could say I had been talking at him—for a while, pointing out several problem areas I’d noticed in his behavior. I’d griped about his slow starts in the morning, accusing him of constantly making the rest of the family [...]
Read more →I remember when we first moved into the home where we live now. There was no yard worth mentioning, just a big ol’ spread of dirt and clay. Wanting to green things up and save some greenbacks in the process, we decided to go crazy and sod the property, without professionals! Because we had zero [...]
Read more →Towards the end of any year, managers and supervisors everywhere will pull out their clipboards and start conducting year-end performance reviews. That’s right, it’s time again to discuss quality control, problem solving, interpersonal skills, and your attitude on the job. As an added bonus (not necessarily the kind you can spend) you’ll also get [...]
Read more →It’s almost intimidating what kids know these days. I can remember driving my daughter home from a party she’d attended and she looked out the window at the moon and suddenly turned into a talking textbook. She proceeded to explain to me a few of the facts she’d been learning in science, like [...]
Read more →Let me tell you, we’re talking about a really big “if.” If I think about it long enough and hard enough, I can remember what it was like—what it was like long, long ago—to be a kid. If. For starters, the piano practice was torture. I’d be sitting there, plunking out tunes on black and [...]
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