It is the dream of many immigrants to bring their children back to see their country of origin one day. My great- grandmother came to the United States from Ireland when she was a teen. Her daughter and granddaughter (my…
Tracey Ridpath does a lot of thinking on daily walks near her Colonial Heights home. She thinks about her first-grade students at Tussing Elementary School. She thinks about her husband, Rick, and their teenage daughters, Casey and Camryn. She thinks…
When Rita Wynne’s son Colin was diagnosed with autism at sixteen months, she was floored. “We were blown away,” recalled the Hanover County mom of four. “Physically, he was perfect, walking at nine months. He just wasn’t talking, but with…
Bucky found us,” Eric says. The couple had gone to a Super Bowl party last year, and a friend who was fostering Bucky through a Fetch a Cure program called Pixie’s Pen Pals brought him with her to share in…
Disney fanatics like me are having a difficult time keeping up with all the new attractions, restaurants, and changes at Walt Disney World Resort. Mind you, it’s exciting, but there is a lot to take in. And, it’s just the…
It isn’t like we didn’t get plenty of notice that our firstborn was heading off to college. Progress through school follows such a predictable pattern that it’s easy enough, even at birth, to guess when the first week of college…
The secret is revealed in a single, appalling glance. Our vet has pried Rudy’s mouth open and there, in the back, the reason for his recent difficulties eating. A golf ball-sized melanoma, growing on his tongue. It’s December 2, 2015.…
Growing up in Henrico’s near West End, Carla Navarrete had plenty of family around her: her parents, an older sister, and three younger brothers. But she didn’t have her grandparents, all of whom lived in her parents’ native country of…
Some of my fondest memories of elementary school involve playing in the woods during recess. When I taught middle school in New Jersey during the late 1990s, my students received thirty minutes of free play at lunchtime. But times have…
You say you’re not a beach family? Factory tours of American products and brands are a natural fit for families who want to have a more active sight-seeing experience, or families who might prefer a city vacation. Along the way,…
