Everyone has their quirks. Me? I feel compelled to share my life with anyone who cares to read about it (which, admittedly, probably isn’t very many). By all accounts, Beth seems to be a budding conservationalist. Nothing she acquires, no matter how mundane or inherently disposable, can be thrown out without great deliberation. No resource, no matter how consumable or desired, may be…
Cheryl and Beth have a unique mother-daughter relationship. At any given time, any one of these labels may seem appropriate for Cheryl’s relationship with Beth: friend, rival, taskmaster, pseudo-sibling, mentor, nurse, maid, and cook. Of all these titles, the most surprising one was added yesterday afternoon, secretary. I would have sooner expected Beth to be doing aerial acrobatics from the…
The third law of child rearing states: if your child can hurt themselves playing with something, they will hurt themselves playing with something.
Now picture my daughter announcing that we were out of soap in her bathroom. I tell her to get a fresh liquid soap dispenser from the kitchen. She walks past me, gets a new soap dispenser, and walks back past me on her way back to the bathroom. A few…
On this, the last day of school, I wonder what tomorrow will bring. No, I’m not talking about the next school year. I’m really talking about tomorrow. My daughter is the kind of child where you can’t take any day for granted.
Yesterday evening after school Beth was excused to go to her friend’s house. Like a good parent I watched her walk down the street, presumably to make…
I have a bad memory. There are things that I have in place to overcome this failing, but like all things human they are not perfect. There is a certain couple that will be celebrating a wedding aniversary tomorrow, number four if I’m not mistaken. I offer this entry as an incredibly lame substitute for what will surely turn out to be another failure of my memory tomorrow. I could call, but I…
Publix (Supermarket) – Our nominee for husband of the quarter and everyone’s hero, yours truly, was shopping grocery style with the family. Cheryl, the wife and household fashion consultant, sent me on a mission to retrieve some facial tissue – greasy style. I came back with two boxes just as I was ordered. Ten minutes later Cheryl erupts with indignation: “you got brown…
We learned this morning that we will not have twins this fall. That’s the bad news. The good news is that one of the two is the picture of good health. I’m having a hard time assessing my feelings about this right now. I was standing beside Cheryl, holding her hand as we watched the ultrasound screen. I was immediately worried that I could only see one fetus, but I told myself that I…
With the authority vested in her by God, genetics, and a second x chromosome, Cheryl is rarely wrong. When disputes arise, I frequently do what many other men in my position do, I take my rightful place, admit to my failings, and subject myself to her authority. Things are just easier that way.
This doesn’t mean that I always have to like it, but since when does liking something have to do…
Let’s see… the wife is feeling worse?
Check.
The kid had a bad day at school?
Check.
Cancel out on an anticipated weekend getaway?
Check.
Up past my bedtime?
Check.
Wax sentimental about a great week prematurely?
Check.
Sometimes weeks are like that. You never can tell when it will all make a run for the crapper. Is it better to have had good days and left them behind, than to never…