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Browsing All Posts filed under »Family«

Straps, Snowballs, and Selective Memory

January 4, 2011

My father wore a belt. I assume its purpose was to hold up his pants, but the belt had a much larger significance in my little mind, because it represented potential punishment. Both of my parents referred to this belt as The Strap, and in a strange way it seemed to be a permanent part […]

Twisted Values?

December 27, 2010

It has always mystified me how something can quickly fall from the very top of a Christmas or birthday list to the absolute depths of disdain — and the back of a closet. During the past fifteen years I’ve watched our children repeatedly obsess about some item they swore they couldn’t live without, only to […]

On A Roll

November 25, 2010

When I was nine years old, I won a bicycle at our church bazaar. I say I won it, but all I had done was place a coin on a number, and when the big wheel stopped on that very number, I had a brand new bike. It was blue, with 20-inch tires, a light […]

Crossing the Line

October 4, 2010

My wife and I are American citizens, and so are our kids, but we moved to Canada twelve years ago. It wasn’t a political statement of some kind. We weren’t trying to escape anything or looking to pursue a different lifestyle. We were just visiting and happened to find a house we loved. In our […]

Redecorating? Over My Dead Body.

September 18, 2010

The new television season has arrived, and my wife couldn’t be happier. She likes television. I tend to be in the vicinity, reading a book or doing a crossword puzzle. Her shows play in the background, inserting themselves into and out of my consciousness in much the same way that I probably reappear for her […]

My Favorite Teacher

September 3, 2010

The block where we lived was mostly three-story brick buildings and concrete driveways. Right in front of our house was an opening in the sidewalk, a square measuring about two feet by two feet that must have once been home to a tree. I would play in the dirt that filled that square, sometimes for […]

Caveat Viator (Let the Traveler Beware)

August 7, 2010

My wife and I went on a four-day road trip recently. Our destination was less than three hours from home, yet we had never been to this particular part of the country. We set off, armed with the region’s vacation guide, one of those thick books filled with colorful pictures, maps, and dramatic headlines that […]

Cause & Effect (Part 1)

August 3, 2010

Humans are forever trying to explain what they see, to look at some object or condition and figure out what actions produced that result. It’s called Cause & Effect, and we use it all the time in just about every area of life. We plant five rose bushes. Three of them do really well, one […]

I Remember Boredom

July 10, 2010

I love history, partly because I enjoy seeing how people lived long ago. I’ve visited dozens of mansions, homesteads, and estates, as well as simpler homes, taking the guided tour whenever one is offered. I pay special attention to the descriptions of the kitchen, of all the related jobs and how they were done. You […]

Sarcasm: It’s in the Blood

July 7, 2010

I see articles in magazines and newspapers that speculate about the existence of genes for certain traits. Is there a gene for religious belief? Homosexuality? Intelligence? Alcoholism? These are mildly interesting questions, and I usually read the articles at least halfway through before going off to fold my socks. But what about the sarcasm gene? […]