Things got a little weird on the baseball diamond last weekend. For the first time in my illustrious career as a maker of men, we had to bench some players for bad behavior. I’ve had to make threats about benching before, but never had to execute on those threats. Not that I can remember at…
I’m a Suburban Farmer of Nothing
Today I took the day off from work to tend to the house. Between the kids’ sports and a host of other activities, there’s simply no time on the weekend for us to get to everything that needs to get done. Work was pretty quiet this week, so today seemed like the right day to…
Hoping for a Little Chalkboard Inspiration During Covid
In the thick of covid, with my wife having gone back to work full-time, I found myself suddenly thrust into the position of “mom” on the home front. Only the home front was the front lines, and this little lamb didn’t know what the heck he was doing. I just knew I was probably doing…
Conceding Defeat in the Vandal Wars of 2020-2021
Before my wife went back to work full-time, I had a much simpler view of how the house operated. Every morning I’d skip out the door to go to the office, have a glorious day of dealing with grown-up problems, and when the evening came, I’d come home to throw out all of the trash…
Fight for the Smiles, Life Is Happening Now
Things go wrong in our lives and sometimes we wish we could just get away for awhile. Erase the past and get a redo. Take a timeout. Retreat. I know for me, chronic nerve pain has been a noose around my neck that has made me wave the white flag of retreat more than once….
Where Are All the Happy Writers?
As I reenter the writing fray, I’ve been checking out Medium a lot lately, which if you’re not familiar with, is an app where a lot of writers can post their content for the world to see. It reads like the most refined blogging hub on the web, though it’s supposed to feel more sophisticated…
Where Can a Dad Get Some Steroids?
Okay, enough already. Can’t someone just blast me with a bunch of steroids to make this pain go away? I can tell there’s just this last bit of muscular tissue that won’t swell up and get strong enough to hold all the nerves in place – why can’t we just get a big old needle…
A Year Sleeping On the Couch
No, my wife didn’t kick me out of the bedroom. I didn’t do anything wrong or anything like that. But for the last year, longer actually, I’ve had to sleep on the couch because of this nerve pain I’m dealing with. Turns out the only way I can get comfortable enough for some precious hours…
Shut Up Banana, I’m in Control
My battle with chronic pain has led me to try anything and everything for help. Acupuncture, elimination diets, massage therapy, physical therapy, mental therapy, pharmaceutical medications, herbal medications, CBD, melatonin, corticosteroids, you name it — none of them have solved the problem. Several of them even made the pain much, much worse. I’m looking at…
The Greatest Little League 3B Coach of All Time
This spring I have the great privilege, perhaps for the last time, to help coach my son’s baseball team. But unlike other years, this time I will not bear the responsibility of being called the head coach; I’ve been the head coach before and it’s a commitment I no longer want to make. So I’ve…