I turned 40 this year, and if I can cap it off with any one thing it would be the Cubs winning the World Series.  For the first time in 71 years Cubs fan can root for their team in that very series.  It is a very exciting time for me… and with any luck my [Read More…]

“I wish I hadn’t done that…” “I didn’t mean to…” “I didn’t think that would happen…” As a dad these are things I hear my children say, far more often than I would like to.  It is heartbreaking to be a parent at the point these words are uttered. That is the point at which [Read More…]

I sat at the piano this weekend plunking around and playing bits and pieces of songs I used to play all the time when I was in my late teens and early twenties.  My youngest son who is currently learning piano was getting quite a kick out of it.  At one point I began playing [Read More…]

Over plates of spicy Mexican food the other night I revealed to my wife a moment that was one of the most defining character experiences that I have had in my adult life.  She was surprised that she had not heard the story before; thinking back on it I am a little surprised that it [Read More…]

A good story can’t wait to be told. Sometimes it has to be found, worked on, and whittled into a shape that can be digested by an audience. Some stories we have been telling for thousands of years and at the hands of a master craftsman it is received not just by our mind and [Read More…]

Driving home from the city we passed a billboard advertising spray tans at a local tanning salon chain here.  My youngest (California-raised) boy had questions… 10 yo: What’s a spray tan? Me: People go into a tanning salon and basically have their skin sprayed a little darker. 10 yo: like spray painting? Me: Yeah, they [Read More…]

I stood in front of a centuries old sculpture of Marcus Aurelius last week, during one of my frequent trips to the Institute of Art in Chicago, and I was moved to tears.  As I thought on a man who led a great empire but did so nobly with a philosophy that valued self restraint, duty, and respect [Read More…]