Life with a Smile

I started writing a weekly column in August of 2015. My first piece was about how my two-year-old daughter refused to eat green beans – a stance to which she was so committed that not even the promise of chocolate cake for dessert could compel her to let the dreaded vegetable cross her lips. That… Continue reading The Next Chapter

The change of seasons is happening in earnest now. The snow pants and parkas have been stowed away until next year. The daffodils are in full bloom, and I grudgingly had to wake my lawn mower from its winter hibernation to deal with the unruly tufts of grass that are springing up in my front… Continue reading Changes Are Coming – I’m Not Sure I’m Ready

It felt like spring today. I know that such sentiments are reckless. It’s not actually spring. Not quite yet. According to the meme circulating on Facebook, we’re in “Spring of Deception” sandwiched between “Second Winter” and “Third Winter,” just before “Mud Season.” Whatever. I don’t care. It may have only been fifty degrees, but the… Continue reading Recklessly Welcoming Spring

I grew up in northern Illinois. Each of the four seasons got its turn and each made the most of it. Thunderstorms and flowers in the spring? Check. Zillion degree heat and lots of humidity in the summer? Check. Stunningly beautiful fall foliage? Check. Then came winter and snow. Lots of snow. Because we were… Continue reading The Evolution of Snow Days

Us: The country is hopelessly divided. Polarization is at an all-time high. Nothing could possibly bring us together. Bernie Sanders: Hold my beer and hand me my mittens. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, put down the paper and go Google “Bernie Sanders mittens.” Go on. I’ll wait. Sweet, frumpy Bernie Sanders… Continue reading Changing the Narrative (At Last)

I nearly killed my daughter’s fish last weekend. You know, the fish that were The Beloved Christmas Gift this year? Yeah, those fish. It got me thinking about personal responsibility and – after the insanity we’ve witnessed in recent weeks on the political stage – this seems like a worthy topic to discuss. Let’s start… Continue reading Admitting Fault Is Hard – And Necessary

My eldest child has been pestering me for years to get her a pet. For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, the addition of fifty-three pounds of deranged dog fur to our home did not satisfy her longings. Much as she loves the incorrigible Buddy Baudelaire, she wanted her own personal pet, not… Continue reading Fabulous Fish Friends

Despite my best efforts and careful precautions, I found out on New Year’s Eve that I had been exposed to the coronavirus. This post chronicles the Stages of Quarantine for Healthy people. Spoiler alert: I did not have COVID and never felt remotely unwell. So, this is more about how compulsively busy people handle forced… Continue reading The Quarantine Chronicles

Every year during the holidays, memes circulate on Facebook illustrating the daunting task of remembering what day of the week it is. My favorite one homes in on the no man’s land between Christmas and New Year, the time period characterized by feeling “confused” and “full of cheese.” I relate so deeply to that meme… Continue reading Presence, Play, and Oreo Truffles

I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming winter solstice. On the one hand, solstice is the turning point – the darkest night before the days begin to lengthen again. It’s the first pinprick of light, the glimpse of the end of the tunnel. But then again, winter is really only just beginning. The… Continue reading Looking for Light in the Darkness