I apologize for the grainy quality of this photo, and if you aren’t blinded by the red terrycloth shorts on the super stylish far right circa 1983, you’ll note a beautiful young woman in pink. This is my cousin, Michelle, who passed away from pediatric leukemia maybe a year or two after this picture… Continue reading Thank you Pan Mass Challenge Cyclists!
My second “public support and sharing of a hashtag” ever: #WeAreAllSportsFans. The first being #endpianoviolence, which if you haven’t checked out Meredith Koch’s story, you ought to. The goal of the #WeAreAllSportsFans campaign, launched by Mpower Sports and Recreation on Aug. 1, is to reach the international sports community and sports fans worldwide and have… Continue reading #WeAreAllSportsFans
I don’t always give Geoff enough credit when he has a GENIUS parenting idea, but this one set us up for 1300 miles of relative peace and quiet in the car headed west, which as parents of small children know is no easy task. I also barricaded the space between them so they couldn’t physically… Continue reading Daddy, I Think God Must Use a Go-Pro…
While hiking with my Girls of Summer last week, one 16 year old known for her tough interview questions asked me if I’d ever been in love BEFORE Geoff. Girls have a way of asking questions on those occasions when they trust you that you need to answer as honestly as possible. Other questions included:… Continue reading To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before…Well, Actually, to Your Parents…
Dear Neighbor, It has come to our attention that you complained to our Association about our yard. To our knowledge, we are living within the guidelines of the bylaws and keep a tidy place, most of the time; but July 4th weekend is a different story. We had a family style AFTERNOON barbecue, and there… Continue reading For Our Grumpy Neighbor Who Complained about Too Much “Going On” in Our Yard…
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about personal independence and how it means different things for different people. We’ve crossed this incredible turning point in our parenting development with Geoff being able to take our kids places alone without the threat of one of them running away or getting some place “inaccessible”where he might not… Continue reading Thinking about Independence on Independence Day…
When I heard about the passing of legendary great Pat Summit, the most winningest coach in the history of the NCAA, I reflected first on her courage as a human being thwarted by a devastating illness; I obviously did not know her on a personal level, but I remember watching and learning from her tenacity… Continue reading Pat Summit: A Model for Grit and Resiliency
The best story from our “Let’s See How Accessible National Parks Are” trip is the one Geoff likes to tell about how I left him for dead on a hike in Yellowstone when a bison entered the trail we were on about 20 yards away. This was the trip that was supposed to prove we… Continue reading 10 Years in the Making: Our National Park Road Trip the Year BEFORE We Married…
The above black and white picture of my dad in the sweet aviator shades of 1982, perhaps, is one of my favorite pictures of us for a variety of reasons. A giant blow up version leftover from his 60th birthday party hangs on my classroom door and students comment regularly on it– about how “badass”… Continue reading Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads, “Stand- in” Dads, Uncle- Dads, and Dads in Heaven
Between the college student who raped the young woman and hasn’t taken responsibility for his actions and the open season hate crimes on the LGBT crowd at Pulse, a gay dance club in Orlando, I am sad. This kind of senseless violence has left me feeling like I need to arm myself with more information… Continue reading The Violence Against Humanity is Killing Me
