Rite of passage: The best-laid plans
Our Christmas and New Year’s Day can best be summed up with the words of Robert Burns in his poem, “To a Mouse”: “The best-laid plans of Mice and Men go oft awry.” I think the mice made out better than we did. Our family had planned to gather on Christmas Eve, enjoy a meal, open presents and have our family photo taken. We seldom have all of our family in one room at the same time, but Erin, my daughter-in-love, had orchestrated this...
Rite of Passage Parenting: 7 New Year’s Resolutions for Other People
I have a gift. I really do. I have the gift of making New Year’s resolutions for other people, although I’m no good at making them for myself. Like other spiritual gifts, God must give this one to an individual to bless the masses. So here are your resolutions for next year: I resolve not to pick my nose in the car. I don’t know how many times I’ve pulled up alongside another car and seen someone picking their nose. You...
Rite of passage: ‘Do you hear what I hear?’
It’s no secret that I love this time of the year, especially the music that accompanies it. For reasons known only to God, each year, a single song resonates through my heart and soul. It is never the same song two years in a row; last year, it was “Little Drummer Boy.” The “Pa rum pum pum pum” filled an endless loop that repeated continuously in my mind from November through mid-January. These songs play when the radio is off;...
Rite of passage: ‘Goooood job, Poppy!’
The other day, I went to help my son Caleb paint the inside of the previously-owned home he just bought. I enjoy these tasks, as they give us some quality time together. But this day, I was particularly excited because I got to hang out with Titus the Honorable and Cohen the Goodhearted. Cohen came by as I was climbing up the ladder and watched as I meticulously cut in the living room ceiling. He yelled up, “Good job, Poppy, goooood...
Rite of passage: Save the day
Dear Cohen the Goodhearted, On Thanksgiving Eve, you and I were outside playing when you started walking toward the house with real intensity. I stopped you and asked, “Where are you going?” You looked up at me and sang a line from the theme song of the “Mighty Mouse” cartoon, “Here I come to save the day!” It caught me by surprise. I didn’t know you knew who Mighty Mouse was, let alone that you could sing the theme song. I grew up...
