Category: Parenting

Brothers

I wish I could remember the exact time my brother became my best friend. It might well have been the moment he was born, but you wouldn’t have known it until much later. Nearly...

World Cup tears

The boy’s lip trembled when it became clear that the USA was going to lose to Ghana. He fought the tears as long as he could and stumbled over his words as he asked...

Dos es uno

I’ll be honest. By the time the boy we call Dos came into the world, I’d forgotten a lot about what it took to be the parent of an infant or toddler. I’d forgotten...

The Irrational Machine

Every weekday morning at 7:30am on the nose, John Smith (not his real name) gets up from the same spot on his bed. He showers with a clean wash cloth, washes under the same...

Sinner and a sinner’s son

I never can remember whether I’m sinning in South Carolina. The target for sin is one that moves and not in a way you’d expect. You’re more apt to run right into the bullseye...

The Brett Favre of parenting

Guilt is a byproduct of selfishness. Guilt, that tightness around the heart and lump in the throat, reminds us that, but for satisfying our own wants and desires, we might not have overlooked something...

Lost letters

I was cleaning up my laptop this week when I ran across something that bore my younger son’s name. I didn’t remember creating the document, and when I opened it up I didn’t recognize...

Being us on Christmas

The other day as we sat beneath stockings and in the glow of a perfectly-lit North Carolina pine, my son asked, “Dad, can we celebrate Hanukkah sometime?” This is where my son’s experience is...

A day with my boy

I just spent ten days pretending I’m a lot younger than I am and acting generally selfish. It was, as you might expect, a damned good time (with the exception of that time it...