Giving New Meaning to Parenting

This is my essay from Father’s Day 2009. I’ve gotten a few emails asking me to run it again, so here it is.
If I drank, Father’s Day is definitely a day I would spend in a bar, drowning my every emotion. You see, I’m a stepfather. And being the stepdad on Father’s Day is like [...]

For a good many of you, it’s holiday time at your house. Lots to do, lots to enjoy, especially when you’ve got kids. I’ve spent some time reading through what seems an endless array of web pages focused on Easter and Passover projects for kids. Here’s just a few interesting sites – my hope is [...]

Hey everyone! This week we get to celebrate April Fool’s Day. According to the Wikipedia page, people have been celebrating this holiday for hundreds of years.
It’s quite common to play tricks on people on April Fool’s Day. I really dislike doing anything that would hurt or embarrass an individual. Many of those [...]

In Arizona the weather is heating up and it feels like Spring. Spring is only a few days away so the warmer weather is to be expected along with Spring Break. I have not had a “Spring Break” since college,  but it has re-entered my life now that I have kids in preschool. The school [...]

We made it to March! Phew. Spring will be here soon in my neck o’ the woods. I’ve been in the mood to plan ahead a little bit this year, and thought I’d share some of ideas I found online for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. For an historical and encyclopedic definition [...]

Happy President’s Day, everyone! Did you know that this holiday was established originally in honor of George Washington, the first President of the United States? True story. In fact, it legally still is a celebration of his birthday which is February 22. In practice, we’ve taken to celebrating all US presidents [...]

As I took down the Christmas tree today, I followed my normal routine of laying all the ornaments on the table and then carefully wrapping them one by one as I checked off a list. One of the eleven-year-old boys came by and asked me what on earth I was doing.
When I explained [...]

On Wednesday, my girls and I went shopping for people we don’t know. My husband’s company has a toy drive for an organization called UMOM, an organization that offers assistance to the homeless. We purchased some lotion and shower gel for the adults and puzzles and other toys for the children.
Before we arrived at the [...]

Time, they say, heals all wounds. While I don’t think this applies for every situation I do know that there is some truth to the statement. Five years ago we brought our daughters home from the hospital on Thanksgiving day. They had been born premature at 30 weeks gestation (which is 10 weeks too soon). [...]

When my husband called me to complain about how his staff is getting short-changed on bonuses this year, I offered to do something nice for all of them. We agreed to get them gift certificates, up to the max allowed by his company – which is not much. In addition, I told my husband I [...]