Falling forward

My young daughter came to the dinner table where I was working, laptop and papers spread out in front of me, and asked me to kiss her stuffed teddy bear good night. My wife came up behind her, patted her on the pajama bottoms, and told her to run upstairs, she would be right behind... Continue Reading →

Who had it tougher?

My son was sick the other day. His allergies were giving him trouble and he had cold-like symptoms. He was generally fine, but you could tell he was tired and, with several tests coming up, he needed a break. My wife gave him an over-the-counter nasal spray and, just like that, he was better. The... Continue Reading →

The elephant in the room

Earlier this summer, I found myself without a job. One day I was working on an important client project and had meetings taking up much of my day, the next I was combing job sites and ramping up networking efforts on LinkedIn. My first response to the Covid-related job loss was to panic. My next... Continue Reading →

Report cards: What not to say

I should have read the room better. If I had, I would have known to keep my mouth shut. My daughter pulled out her elementary school report card. She had been working hard over the past two months after a tough start to the year and sat with me on the sofa excited to see... Continue Reading →

Everything I needed to learn about life, I learned writing

My college professor handed back my paper with red ink up and down both edges. My heart sank looking at the mess. I walked out of the classroom heartbroken. I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my body. I skipped the rest of my afternoon classes. I was in no mood for... Continue Reading →

Going home again: My hometown through adult eyes

When I was a kid, I hated that we lived outside of town away from most of the other kids in my school. The distance was a mere three miles, but it felt like 3,000. To my way of thinking, we may as well have lived in another country. I should probably explain, when I... Continue Reading →

Learning from failure

The teacher walked up and down the aisle handing out magic markers and brightly colored folders like you might find at an office supply store. I got a red one, the girl in front of me got an orange one. It was the first day of school, I was starting the sixth grade, and, of... Continue Reading →

Small progress

I’m starting to worry about my memory. I see something in the news that I think is funny in an off-hand way and I save the story to my favorites to tell my oldest son and then I remember that he’s not here. I see a funny clip from The Late, Late Show with James... Continue Reading →

Growth or not in my backyard?

I’ve been treated the past week to a show of sorts. Heavy construction equipment movers have been working on a large plot of land that sits on my way to work. Huge bulldozers have been pushing large mounds of dirt and sand, big excavators have been digging out holes for drainage pipes, and Earthmovers have... Continue Reading →

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