“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…]

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…]

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…]

I found myself looking at this pair of shoes left in front of the sink in our bathroom last week and I had an awful moment of enlightenment.  They fit snuggly on the feet of  my 12 year-old son.  As I stood there looking at them I could almost see him standing there looking into [Read More…]

I am watching my boys grow at a spectacular rate. Spectacular because they are growing big, strong, and healthy, but at the same time they just keep growing. Relentless in this goal  to break free of the title of my “little boys”.  That time will be here sooner than I know it and part of [Read More…]

What are you willing to leave behind? We have reached that part of the year we are ready to make changes.  These changes are often short-lived because we struggle with giving things up and letting things go.  We want to add something new to our lives that we feel will make us better, The problem [Read More…]