When my older daughter was eight, my wife Kat and I prepared to take her to her first sleep-away camp. It was the summer after third grade and she was ready for an adventure. She’d been active in the local…

Are you kidding me?  I mean, come on. Really. You have got to be kidding me. There’s not even three inches of snow out there, and schools are closing? Again? Snow day, you have done it once more – barreling…

On a special December Saturday in 1983, Dad woke up early to warm up the Toyota. By seven o’clock, my sister Susan and I were inside the car. Then, we waited for Mom, who perpetually ran late. We needed to…

It seems we’ve come here to see her dance a hundred times before. The girls get older, the routines get smoother, and, well, a dad can’t help but notice that the little girl who once had all the grace and…

So here I am again, standing at the end of the walk with the flashlight in my hand. Up at the front door, past the jack o’ lanterns on the stoop, the monsters, superheroes, and fairy princesses crowd around the…

It’s not an exact science. There is no formal certification. But I can tell you that the path to my current status as duly recognized poopologist was long and arduous, requiring years of study, an abundance of patience, and also…

The summer of 1986 meant riding my Schwinn Thrasher eight blocks to Lafayette Pharmacy where I cashed in my nickels for a bag of assorted Jolly Ranchers. The loot cost me $1.67, and the trip took a solid twenty minutes…

It’s been almost ten years since I woke up in this house and looked out the window at the humble landscape I planned to turn into the yard of my dreams. Here we were, freshly minted homeowners, and my mind…

My family is going to the beach this summer. I’m writing it here so it absolutely, definitely happens … maybe. Sharing it here increases the likelihood that we will go to the beach to at least greater than 50 percent. For…

I know it’s out here somewhere. The college our daughter has been looking for. And as we make our way down endless highways and byways in search of it, my odometer might as well be racking up dollar signs instead…