My son turned fourteen last week, and his birthday promised to be one enormous letdown. The year before we had celebrated his Bar Mitzvah, marking this 13th birthday, in grand style. He surprised the congregation with a hilarious yet meaningful speech about the commandment “Though shalt not covet,” complete with him riffing off the Bruno […]
A couple of years ago I blogged regularly about my Year to Live project. The 365 day experiment profoundly changed the way I think about life, even to this day. Every once in a while, something fantastic and year-to-live-y grabs my attention and makes me want to jump up and share it with you.
Maybe this has happened to you: adorable children in your neighborhood knock on your door with a zip lock bag full of a yellowish, gloppy substance. They tell you it’s a starter for Amish Friendship Bread, and it works like a chain — they are baking their bread today from a starter someone gave to […]
We all have some form of magical thinking when it comes to dying. It’s how we attempt to gain control over our fears. My particular brand of magical thinking is that if you eat well, exercise and meditate, you will most likely have a long and healthy life. I know this is not entirely rational…
It was a very risky idea, given how much he wanted Beats headphones ($200 headphones for a kid?) and a Wii. But this past week I gave my tween-age son his holiday present, choosing to surprise him with the gift of an experience over a thing. Here’s what came out of his 5-day art class […]
Having neither spectacular accomplishments nor grave misfortunes to report, and, to be honest, having exhausted the vein of humorous family anecdotes over the years, I will tell you instead that we are all well and fine, and hope that you are too.
I think it’s the perfect gift for the holidays. But how will my son react when he finds out where I’ll be sending him for the next five days? Recently I took a cold, hard look around our NYC apartment to assess the cause of its great untidiness. I discovered that the Chief Clutter Culprits […]
It happens every year around December 10th. I’ll be standing at the stove cooking dinner, or simply waiting at the bus shelter when I suddenly get a little choked up. Or a lot choked up, depending on the year. This Saturday will be one of those days — International Human Rights Day, the anniversary of […]