When I was young, I was always drawn to the happily-ever-after stories. Yep, I was. Don’t judge. As I grew older, and through relationships in my youth, I realized that the end of those stories left out a lot of details. Anyone who has had the good luck to fall in love once knows that falling in love is the starting point, not the ending point. I have fallen in love. While some of the Read more
Duh! The Ryder Cup just took place. With this President. In this environment. And instead of pleasantly surprising the world with the decorum of a happy sports fan that takes in the wonderful mastery of golf being played in front of them….the USA fan acted as they lately, seemingly, always do. USA, USA, USA….I’m not sure about any of you, but that chant makes me want to vomit, then take a nap. My favorite sporting Read more
I will tell you that I am frustrated. Deeply frustrated with the tennis match of hypocrisy that exists in our country today. Starting from the President all the way down. It’s not a secret if you have ever spent time reading my words (thank you) that I am a left-leaning hippy. I have written deeply about the strange behavior of our public during COVID. I have written about third parties. Today, waking up to see Read more
What causes relationships to end? Some end naturally. Whether it’s misaligned goals or just fundamentally different tenets, these relationships, from the beginning, fall into the category of “short-term”. You may have heard the phrase “A Reason, A Season, A Lifetime”, as a quick way to describe relationship lengths. This phrase has inspired poems and songs. If we use this phrase as a categorizing “measuring stick”, short-term relationships existed for a reason. It’s the long-term relationships Read more
Today, I turned 60. A few years ago, someone used the two television series, “Golden Girls” and “And Just Like That” to point out how differently we view age today. As a father of three, with a loving partner, I can echo those sentiments. Age seems strangely amorphic. It truly is what we want it to be, kinda like Tofu. 10 years ago I wrote on this platform about what it meant for me to Read more
I heard a story from my therapist once about betrayal. Her Professor and mentor shared it with her as she was studying for her masters to become a therapist. He relayed a story about a couple that had come to him for marriage counseling. They had been married for many decades. They were there because the husband had been unfaithful to his wife. She described how she felt to the therapist like this: “This betrayal Read more
As a child, most of you more than likely experienced not being chosen. The politics of the playground can be cruel. Being chosen anything but first for a team feels deflating, at least it did for me, as I suspect it did for a lot of you. But it is inevitable for most. Even Michael Jordan didn’t make his varsity team on the first try. Those same dynamics play out in relationships. We will be Read more
When I was growing up, the first superhero I saw on TV was George Reeves’ Superman. I was totally enthralled. He could leap buildings and outrun a bullet. No matter what the crisis was, he was able to easily overcome. More super heroes showed up on TV soon after. Spiderman, Hulk, Aquaman, Ultraman, Batman. What drew me in was how amazing their goodness was to help humanity at all costs. It spoke to me. Like Read more
Meet my friend N. She is in her 40s. She is married with two children. She is a trailblazer in work and in life. She values her family with ferocity and love. She was raised by two parents who are still together. They provided an amazing, loving, safe space in which to grow up. They had three more children. The entire family, still, to this day, lives close together and spends time together. Meet my Read more
The title of this post is a reference to the wonderful novel by Maria Semple, and is a tribute to my mother, Bernadette, who passed away February 2nd, 2022. She was 77. I was born as her first son, from a coupling of two Roman Catholic parents each playing a role that was, like for many, defined by the church and their parents. She was a beauty queen, attended a Catholic high school, and met Read more