My daughter Emma is delighted by riddles. A benefit of distance learning is that the two of us share a special little routine during the day: we send each other riddles over email. During breaks in our day, we reply back and forth with guesses of...
Quitting has a bad reputation. Even when things seem extra crummy or we have lots of reasons for giving up – whether it’s a course we are taking or a relationship that isn’t working or a job we aren’t finding satisfaction in – our society...
A long time ago, when we thought nothing of standing in crowded groups (mere inches from others), our family went to a parade at Disneyland. People were holding balloons and waving streamers and magic wands in the air. Far in the distance, we heard music...
There is a well-known saying about the difficulty of putting toothpaste back in the tube. The toothpaste is a metaphor for hurtful words or actions that can’t be taken back. Once they are out, it becomes as impossible as putting toothpaste back in a flattened,...
This week, there was a news story about a Texas lawyer who appeared as a fluffy, white, talking cat during a Zoom meeting with a judge. The lawyer had mistakenly turned on a video filter and couldn’t seem to get it off. On the video, the...
Last week, I began thinking it would be quite nice to have a stepping-stone path built in our backyard so the girls could walk to their swing set without having to make the painful trek across gravel (sometimes you can’t be bothered to put on...
As we followed the hostess toward our table on the restaurant’s outdoor patio, she turned back to ask the girls if they would like to color. They enthusiastically replied, “Yes! Thank you!" – always appreciative of an opportunity to draw while waiting for their food....
This week, Ella celebrated her birthday and requested waffles for breakfast. Usually, I make waffles from my Nana’s recipe, which involves putting a few simple ingredients in a blender. But I wanted Ella’s birthday waffles to be extra special. So the night before, I Googled...
The Capitol Rotunda is a large, domed room in the center of the U.S. Capitol. Beneath this room, there is a cornerstone laid by President George Washington in 1793. The iconic white dome was completed in 1863, right in the middle of the Civil War....
My daughter had an imaginary friend named Stewie when she was younger. Stewie was bald, drove a purple car...