Is a House a Home?
When the housing bubble burst, it was probably the first time I felt okay about being somewhat destitute as a child. Finally, being “descended from Irish working class immigrants” and the whole “salt of the earth” thing would work to my advantage. Growing up, the mindset just made me feel bad during my fancier life [...]
VIEW POSTComments: 21
I Wanna WRECK-IT TOO, Ralph.
There’s a film coming out next month that you should go see. And I did some voiceover on it! No, besides Christmas in Compton. I mean Wreck-It Ralph! When I heard I was going to see the movie more than a month before it arrives in theaters, the video game fanatic in me was thrilled. [...]
VIEW POSTComments: 25
Turning the Tables on Family Dinner
So, I’m an okay cook but by Friday night, my whole family are a bunch of zombie meatsacks. I decided to write about how to remove the stress out of family dinners by week’s end because I know so many families are dealing with the same problem. I wrote about it for Annie’s Homegrown, a [...]
VIEW POSTComments: 7
The Living Tree
Last night I was reading with my son during our nightly pre-bedtime read marathon. This guy gets bossy in his marshmallow chair. We sat critiquing the various characters and their behavior. There were the obvious socio-environmental questions about The Lorax, the revelation that The Goldbug in Richard Scarry’s books was actually a metaphor for racism and [...]
VIEW POSTComments: 16
Techno-illogical Toddler
My son has a toy laptop that he carries around with him nearly everywhere he goes. It makes fun sounds, teaches letters, musical notes, animals sounds — this thing is an orchestra of learning and interactivity. The simplistic keyboard and screen make it nothing more than an oversized calculator with a digital readout. Press a [...]
VIEW POSTComments: 16
Banana Added for Scale (A New, More Forgiving Unit of Measure)
The banana is not a standard or scientific unit of measure. It isn’t even accurate. But isn’t accuracy really for people who build bridges and count how many eyebrow hairs they have? Let’s face it, not everything in the world needs a laser scan that can tell you the shoe size of a molecule. People [...]
VIEW POSTComments: 21
IOUD, Part Two
Continued from IOUD, Part One… It was 4am. Staring at my phone, waiting for a text from Avara. Finn flopped around in his sleep almost as much as my mind jumped from outcome to outcome. ‘Gonna rest a bit until doc comes in. You gotta sleep. So wish we were home.’ With that, I gently [...]
VIEW POSTComments: 113
IOUD, Part One
I said, “I want to go beat things and run fast.” She said, “I just want to cry and go to sleep.” Growing up without a firm handle on my emotions was tough. I couldn’t put a saddle on them and ride them until they tired out. I didn’t know how to burn them into [...]
VIEW POSTComments: 91
Once More Unto the Breach…
Editor’s Note: Charlie has provided a soundtrack at the bottom of this post. Feel free to play it while reading this. Last week, Finn and I had an adventure. We did something neither of us had ever done before and busted out our bullwhip/fedora combo. As a parent, it doesn’t require much to venture toward [...]
VIEW POSTComments: 28
A Teenager’s Bucket List
This is completely true and unaltered and unbelievable. And yet, totally believable. One day a friend of mine went insane and decided to clean up the apocalypse of his fourteen-year-old boy’s room. Amid all the aftermath, he discovered something amazing. And since he’s the type of guy who covers this his son’s toilet bowl opening [...]
VIEW POSTComments: 71
