After a crazy travel day involving a 5:30 AM flight to Houston, a mad rush to the next plane to New Mexico, a car rental in Albuquerque, and a long drive through the Navajo Nation and over the border into Colorado, we have arrived in Durango. As advertised, it’s very snowy and mountainous. Tom [...]
Day 6 of the 12 day school vacation and the familial unit is showing signs of cracking. I can’t remember a time when we spent an entire break alone with one another in our humble abode. We usually go up and visit Dave’s family in Rhode Island. Now I know why. We need the buffers. [...]
My dad and brother Jim have gone back to Missouri. They’re great guests and we miss them, but that doesn’t mean the numbers are any more balanced in this household. In fact, because Hugh is having a sleepover, the male to female ratio was 8:1 last night and this morning. Here’s what our entry hall looked like in the aftermath of [...]
Imagine the entire world has come to a standstill. The streets are deserted; the stores are closed; it is eerily quiet in the middle of the day. Nobody is around – except for your family, who wanders the earth aimlessly, looking for signs of life. Yes, we are talking about the latest M. Night Shyamalan [...]
On Christmas Eve, my sons made cookies, my brother Jim made apple pie, and my dad made two pumpkin pies. They even make the crust from scratch. Chris and Ian, who are also frequently found in the kitchen, were off doing something else. For a week, I am truly outnumbered in this house by a [...]
Have you ever been hurt by a friend or loved one’s words or deeds? Someone close to you behaves inexplicitly badly leaving you scratching your head and rubbing your heart? The holidays are tough and ripe for opportunities to be unkind to those who deserve better. Dysfunctional relationships are so common, they have become clichéd. Yet when [...]
My father receives a Christmas letter every December from an elderly English couple he and my mom met back in the 1960s. Written entirely without irony, every missive mentions not only the exciting events, but also the major maladies and trivial calamities of the previous year. The tone reminds me of the doleful Eeyore, who was also English, before [...]
The first night of Hanukah was last night. Our family tradition (which I followed strictly as a Jewish child growing up in the suburbs and dutifully passed onto my boys) is to light the candles after dinner and then run, screaming in anticipation to the family room sofa, where you sit very close together with [...]
Jennifer and Emily are pleased to publish another in our series of guest posts by Fathers of Daughters (FoD). Thanks to Geoff for the great piece below, which speaks for itself. Share and Enjoy:
Like everyone else, I have been a parent for a while, but something else for longer. In my case, six years of doctor training preceded my first daughter. For others, a career as a pilot or professor, cook or contractor. Beyond work and school, we are all enrolled in a life-long course in relationships and [...]
