Family life

Halloween Grows Up

November 1, 2016
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As I sit here in a chocolate-induced haze after Halloween night, I have mixed emotions about how the night unfolded. This year, Halloween was different — different, good, but also different, bad. Or maybe I mean sad. This was the first time our whole family wasn’t together for Halloween. So yeah, that makes me kinda sad. Both […]

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3rd Annual Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Why We Do This

June 7, 2016
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For the 3rd year in a row, we are holding our Alex’s Lemonade Stand fundraiser to raise money for a cause that means SO much to us: childhood cancer. Middle Dude and I are getting ready to make our homemade lemonade and we hope you’ll be eager to drink a cup either in person or online and help us raise […]

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Shopping With and Without My Mother

May 5, 2016

Embed from Getty Images My mother and I used to go shopping in a typical mother-daughter sort of way. But, if you ever saw us weaving in and out of the stores, we looked anything but typical. Neither of us ever dressed the part of avid shopper. My mom was usually wearing a pair of […]

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How The Blue Oyster Cult Taught Me My Parents Were Cool

April 21, 2016
The Essential Blue Öyster Cult

This post is in honor of my mother, who would have been 78 years-old today.  Unless your father is David Beckham and your mother is a Spice Girl, most kids don’t grow up thinking their parents are cool. My parents were regular people with regular careers, who wanted my brother and me to have a […]

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Self-Balancing Scooters: Good, Bad, or In-Between?

December 7, 2015
Matilda & the scooter

Unless you’ve been locked away from the world these past six months, you’d know that electric self-balancing scooters are the “IT” mode of transportation among the teen and tween set. (And, no our dog Matilda pictured at the left, has not learned to ride it…yet). Little Dude had been begging for one for months, but […]

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Picking The Perfect Pumpkin

October 13, 2015
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Every October my mother used to love to go pumpkin picking with my kids and me. We’d usually drive to an orchard that had both apples and pumpkins and she would delight in watching her grandkids romp around the trees looking for apples, and sampling a few along the way. When the boys tired of […]

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One Less Dude In The House

September 22, 2015
English: View of Anderson Hall at Asheville Sc...

Well, it finally happened: My first Dude has left the nest. As you may recall, Big Dude has chosen to go to boarding school for his remaining time in high school. He found the right fit school, for both his academic and athletic development. In the weeks leading up to his departure, my Facebook newsfeed […]

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Sleep-Away Camp: The New Rehab (For Video Game Addicts)

June 2, 2015
No Video Games

It’s no secret that Little Dude loves his video games. A few years ago we attempted to put restrictions on his playing time. But then his diagnosis and subsequent year-long treatment happened and any restrictions were quickly tossed aside in favor of keeping him as comfortable and happy whenever possible. Post-treatment we remained lax, rationalizing that […]

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April 21st – A Birthday and an Anniversary

April 21, 2015

Today, April 21st — would have been my mother’s 77th birthday. It’s been two years since she’s been gone. I can’t decide if it seems like more or less than that. Either way, it sucks. My missing her so very much hasn’t changed and in some ways, it’s gotten worse. The more time that passes, […]

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I Once Won An Award For…(Hint: A horse bite was involved)

April 2, 2015
Finish the Sentence Friday

View image | gettyimages.com Nobody ever told me not to bother a horse when it was eating. I was a fearless, confident nine-year old, who loved all animals, and most especially, this horse named Shane. Shane was my second favorite horse at sleep-away camp, second only to Secora, who was everyone’s sweetheart. I liked Shane […]

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How I Became A Bucket-Filler

March 18, 2015

Is compassion an inherent trait or can it be taught? Or, is it something you discover only after you’ve needed it the most? I’ve thought about this a lot over the past year, as I count each month that we are further away from what was a really BAD year. It was a year when we […]

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