Last week I did something that took no effort at all. I turned 49. As special occasions go, you can’t beat a birthday. No one expects you to plan for it. No one needs you to cook or shop or wrap presents or decorate the house. Compared to days like Thanksgiving or Christmas, birthdays are literally and figuratively a piece of cake. And if you’re lucky, that piece of cake is free from whatever restaurant your family took you to for dinner. Or maybe someone makes your favorite cake, which is what always happened when I was growing up. A wonderful lady we called Granny Davis, who went to our church, used to make the most incredible layered yellow cake […]

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Last weekend, a friend needed to borrow a piece of equipment, and I knew exactly where it was. I retrieved it from the closet but then realized it had a cord – actually just half a cord – dangling from it. Upon closer inspection, I realized the power cord had a connector in the middle, but the half of the cord that plugs into the wall – which you could argue is the most important half – was missing. I asked Tom if he knew where the cord was, and he told me to “Check the cord box.” I rolled my eyes and sighed. He might as well have said “Go bungee jump into the Grand Canyon to see if […]

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I love it when something old becomes new again. And lucky for me and my fellow letter lovers, word games are not only new again, they’re cool. Even my teenagers are doing it. In case you haven’t heard, I’ll fill you in on the hippest new (and free) word game that has captured global interest. It’s called Wordle, and it’s a rare joyful thing that came out of the pandemic. According to a recent New York Times article, a software engineer named Josh Wardle invented the game for his girlfriend. The two of them had become obsessed with word games from the New York Times, like one called “Spelling Bee” and the iconic Times crossword puzzles. Since she liked word […]

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If you watched the Super Bowl a few weeks ago, you may have noticed that most of the car commercials were for a specific type of car – electric. Electric cars and crypto currency were the two things promoted the most during the year’s most expensive commercial time slots. When our middle kid leaves the nest for college this fall and takes his car with him, Tom and I will need to buy another vehicle since we’ll be down to one. So, we’re thinking about getting the kind that doesn’t need unleaded. Going electric makes sense to me lately. We’re already plugging in plenty of things that need charging around here – phones, watches, headphones. Why not charge up the […]

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Something uncomfortable happened after Christmas. It has taken me several weeks to admit it because I already know how it’ll make me sound – shallow, silly, vain. But I’m going to say it because experience has taught me that uncomfortable truths get easier once they’re shared, especially if the other person understands. So here goes. For the first time, when I looked at snapshots of our Christmas celebration, I couldn’t find a single photo of me I liked. Not one. And it wasn’t bad hair, no makeup, dim lighting, or an unflattering outfit. I wish I could blame any or all of those things. But that wasn’t it. The pictures just didn’t look like me – at least the me […]

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The sky is blue, the snow has melted, and the Covid home tests are once again negative. Hallelujah! My family and I have thankfully recovered from the virus, just in time for Valentine’s Day. The only remnant of Covid is a tickling, nagging cough, like respiratory graffiti left behind just to prove it was here. But after getting through this viral kick in the teeth, I’m finally feeling good again and remembering how many things there are to appreciate. I won’t put my favorite people on this list because you have your own list. Love them well. But here’s a list of six things I’m loving this month. (Keep in mind I’m not compensated in any way to love or […]

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Part of me felt like a failure. For nearly two years straight, I tried to make sure it didn’t get us. And then it got us. For a nerd who always wants to do well and follow the rules, getting Covid felt like I’d screwed up after almost two years of effort. But a virus, especially an incredibly contagious one, doesn’t care if you were a good student. It doesn’t check your high school transcript. It just looks for an opportunity and takes it. Simple as that. The only reason we found out the virus was in our house was because our 17-year-old son took a 3-hour nap in the middle of the day and said he was still tired. […]

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Since our oldest son turned 20 last month, I’ve technically completed what’s often called the terrible teens for at least one of our three kids. For the record, it wasn’t terrible. But it was, shall we say, challenging. Enlightening. Humbling. And as with all challenging experiences, I learned things. So, this column is for all my fellow parents of teens (and the alumni parents who’ve lived to tell the tale). Here are my seven not-so-simple rules for parenting teenagers: Remember this phase of life isn’t as easy as it looks. If you judge it strictly by outward appearance, you’ll assume teenagers have it incredibly easy. They sleep late. Many of them have lightning-fast metabolisms that let them eat an insane […]

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There’s good news here at home. Those two gaping holes in the side of our house have been plugged with new living room windows, just in time for January’s cold snap. We keep doing a double-take every time we pass that room as the unexpected sunlight catches our eye. Suddenly the space seems wider, taller. It has an airy feeling it never had before. Our living room is like a face that finally opened its eyes. We can see out. Sunlight can see in. And everyone can see the difference. As frustrating as a home remodeling project can be, this is the part that makes it worth the hassle — when a structural or cosmetic change feels like it was […]

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Do you remember the Where’s Waldo books popular in the late 80s? I had one when I was 14 and found it fun but maddening at the same time. Just in case you were doing more productive things in the late 80s, I’ll give you the basic concept. Waldo (also known as Wally in the British version of the book) is a guy who dresses the same way every day. He likes hiking but prefers to do it in crowded places — not the woods where his distinctive red and white outfit would be easy to spot. The reader’s job is to flip open the book to a double-page spread of an intricately drawn scene (like a crowded beach or […]

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