Time is money. This is a common sentiment here in the Northeast, and across the business world generally. I’ve grown up with the motto and appreciate the focus on efficiency. After Austin and I got married and started a family, I began to develop a preference for a slight variation on this saying: Money is …
“Where do babies come from?” It’s that age-old question we parents often dread. Our family has been fielding variations on this inquiry for years now. We finally had the official ‘sex talk’ with all six kids whilst sitting around the kitchen table recently. Any child who watches a mother or family friend’s belly expand throughout …
There seems to be a general consensus here in the United States, and I suspect, most anywhere, that those of us who are parents want our children to have the opportunities we had, and then some. I came to ponder this again after a breakfast outing with a friend. We were discussing – not for …
The shadows of tall North Carolina pines flickered quickly past on my right. The morning was cold and crisp as we sped up I-95 northbound. A scene played in front of me in my mind’s eye. I saw our five year old dashing out into the Gulf of Mexico before I hardly had a chance …
Do you ever play the “What If” game? You settle down for the night and then, instead of sleeping, you parade a variety of scenarios through your head, working through some of the possible outcomes. Eventually you may start tweaking smaller variables. You might begin with thoughts of the upcoming private school enrollment, and work …
See that happy-family-walking-through-a-field stock photo at the top of this post? That’s not us. That definitely wasn’t us by the time we hit mid-October this year. The beginning of the school year tends to start a little rough, and while we mostly found ourselves in a routine by October, two of the kids were struggling …
This was the moment. The next hour of my sanity was hanging in the balance. I stared at our daughter, who lay slumped on the floor, glaring back at me. We were assessing each other, each analyzing what our next move would be. This moment was all about control. The vacuum lay beside her, quietly …
By far, one of the most frequent questions I get when people find out we have six children age 10 and under is this: How do you have time to run? The answer is: I don’t. With everything most of us have to juggle in a day’s time, none of us really have time to …
“We Americans can’t keep one tenth of our population in an inferior position, just because their ancestors were once enslaved…and still be a healthy democracy. It isn’t Christian and it isn’t democratic, and most of us claim to be both.” – Carl Doss (Doss, 1954, p. 187-188) I read a delightful book recently, apparently somewhat …
From my perch along the bank of the creek, I observed our son in the water, interacting with another family’s dog. I could sense my irritation rising slowly. Why? I internally sifted through the various potential causes of my escalating frustration. Earlier in the afternoon, after wandering along the overgrown bank of the creek for …