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LOVE DEFICIT AND HOW TO OVERCOME IT

A love deficit is like any other: noun. the amount by which a sum of money falls short of the required amount. the amount by which expenditures or liabilities exceed income or assets. a lack or shortage; deficiency. a disadvantage, impairment, or handicap: The team’s major deficit is its poor pitching. A lack, shortage, or deficiency […]

SHOW OFF PARENTS RAISE FUNKY KIDS? WILL THEY KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

Show off parents are not who you think they are. They are not the helicopter moms and dads everyone makes room for. Not the Tiger Moms, either. Parents that dress their kids as miniature versions of themselves don’t make the cut.

LAST CONVERSATION UNTIL NEXT YEAR

One last conversation before Father’s Day, 2023. If you have adult kids, it helps to talk to them. Based on the inspiration from one of my favorite twitter follows, it’s important. Do your kids know you better than you know your own parents?

CLOUDY DAYS TAKE A SHORT BREAK

Cloudy days in Oregon? How can that be? Where I grew up no one complained about the rain. If they did that would have been all they talked about. There’s more going on than cloudy days, but what do you do when all you see are clouds?

MY MOM THE MOTHER IN LAW

After a recent mother in law conversation I ended up disappointing myself. Why? Because I took the easy way out with the customary role, traditional values, and ducked the whole thing. Not that I don’t have plenty to say about mothers in law. My dates introduced me to the moms and dads more than a […]

PERSONAL GOLIATHS AND HOW TO SLAY THEM

My first personal Goliaths, like most everyone growing up with parents, were my parents. I knew they were unslayable from the start. One because they were giants most of my early life, and two, they were my parents. What are you thinking? Besides, my dad had been a Marine Drill Instructor and my mom was […]

LIFE SAVING FOR THE GIVERS AND TAKERS

Life saving is more than a job at the swimming pool. It’s an everyday deal of doing small things that go unnoticed, until it matters. Then it’s everything. Where are the life savers when you need them, the people who take the time even when they’re running late? Who are these people? I think you […]

DIE WRITING, OR DIE TRYING?

Who wants to die writing? A yes answer means one thing: Death is a metaphor. Unless it’s s sudden death and they keel over on their keyboard, no writer dies writing. But something does die in a writer who does everything they can to succeed before giving up. Who’s ever done that? One comes to […]

PARENTAL ADVICE FROM THE HISTORY OF ALL PARENTAL ADVICE

Parental advice is best served as a hand-me-down plate. That is, tell your kids what your parents told you so they’ll know what to tell their kids. Sound complicated? It’s not. Instead, it is listening, listening and understanding. It goes like this:

RAW EMOTIONS: HELLO AND GOODBYE, AIRPORT VS HOSPITAL

Raw emotions, unrehearsed moments of reality, happen in two places: The airport and the hospital. That’s where hello and goodbye emotions live that no one plans for. A hospital visit turns into a gut wrenching ordeal. An airport drop-off turns into the saddest day ever. Is there anything to do to prepare for this? No, […]