Alex Ritchie had it all planned out. After graduating from Clover Hill High School in 2013, she would spend the next four years at Ferrum College in Southwestern Virginia studying engineering. But her finances said otherwise. “My parents were going…
No beach. No mega theme park. No TV or electronics. What kind of vacation is that? Just one of the best our family has ever enjoyed. My suggestion to take our grandchildren, Madeline, age fourteen, and Loren, age thirteen, on…
Stepping out my front door on a sunny afternoon sometimes feels like I’m stepping into Mayberry. Children are riding their bikes back and forth, parking them lawn-side (okay, throwing them down on the grass), and running around with their neighborhood…
Starting and sustaining a business can be challenging for anyone, but what does that look like when its owners are a couple? According to a survey of business owners by the U.S. Census Bureau, more than a quarter (28.2 percent)…
At twenty-four, Richmonder Haley DeRoche was getting anxious. She had tried for a year to get pregnant with no results. Her doctor tested her and her husband for a variety of problems, but found none. Haley was told she had…
“Hey, Diddle Diddle” was Emma Chun’s favorite nursery rhyme. She liked cats, and early on, Emma thought she should have a fiddle, too. She got her first one at age three. And though Emma, now an eighth grader at St.…
As summer winds down, you might be like me – longing for one last break before it’s back to hectic after-school schedules, hours of homework, and heavy backpacks. Maybe your week at the beach feels like ages ago, or you…
Bob Gulledge sat in his seat at the Byrd Theatre eagerly waiting for the moment he could get a look at the grand theatre organ he had been hearing about. The then 13-year-old had recently moved to Richmond from Hickory,…
Good manners. Today the term sounds all Dowager Countess of Grantham with a shot of Eddie Haskell. And who wants to spend a week at the beach with those two? You see my point. Maybe manners need a reboot.…
When asked to serve as the 2014 Christmas Mother, Maya Smart initially demurred, saying the timing wasn’t right. In fact, it was long overdue. The selection of Smart, thirty-four, propelled the 80-year-old program that raises money for needy families into…
