Every year when the holidays roll around I face an internal struggle between capturing the magic of the past and experiencing something fresh. No two Christmases have been exactly alike, but there has been enough of a thematic throughline that my boys have expectations that we do specific activities in a certain order: Thanksgiving, breakfast … Continue reading This year will be different
Thanksgiving week is upon us, and as we prepare our feasts and plan our shopping, the inevitable flood of nostalgia descends, flavoring our post-meal conversations with reminiscence. Always eager to indulge my inclination toward nostalgia, I offer these brief stories of Thanksgivings past to prompt you to remember and share your Thanksgiving memories. Our spread … Continue reading Memorable Thanksgivings
Spoiler alert: Do not read any further if you do not wish to have knowledge that spoilers will ruin your ability to enjoy reading books, going to plays, watching television or spending the evening at the cinema. This post is a spoiler alert about the existence of spoiler alerts. You have been warned. Read further … Continue reading Spoiler alert
As I like to say, anything worth saying once is worth saying twice. Anything worth saying once is worth saying twice. (See what I did there?) Carla and I have entered that beautiful phase of our relationship where more than 50 percent of all of our communication – and we all know communication is the … Continue reading Say that again?
This just in: hurricane season is not over. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hurricane season for the Atlantic Ocean basin lasts from June 1 to November 30. But just when I begin to believe we’ve almost made it through, Southern Living, of all places, robbed me this week of the opportunity … Continue reading Worrycanes
Halloween decorations have been sneaking up on me like a masked, knife-wielding psychopath in the woods on a dark and stormy night. It’s no secret people decorate their homes for Halloween, but the trend seems to have reached a tipping point. I believe it is now at a comparable level to Christmas decorations. Halloween is … Continue reading Halloween lights
I am not spontaneous. That’s why it’s so remarkable that we were headed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Friday, October 11, bound for a Fall Break weekend trip to the Big Apple for a full slate of Broadway shows. Our youngest son, Carlton, turned 16 on October 10, and as we brainstormed the weekend … Continue reading The trip that almost wasn’t
I have officially reached “I-can’t-sleep-through-the-night-anymore” years-old. There were no parties with black balloons to mark the occasion. It snuck up on me. I knew it was coming based on the tales of my elders, but I mistakenly thought I had many more years of sound sleep before these restless nights set in. My chief problem … Continue reading Better sleep
I do not like to work remotely. You may be following the news out of Amazon these days, even if you mistakenly click on a headline thinking it was an update on one of your package deliveries. On Sept. 16, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy sent a memo to employees that sent reverberations throughout the world: … Continue reading Working remotely or remotely working?
Carla and I are in the stage before the empty nest, whatever that’s called. We’re not quite empty nesters because we still have one at home in high school. We’re more like intermittently semi-occupied nesters. Is that a thing? If not, I’m calling it. We’re ISONs. In this stage, our house can go from empty … Continue reading Full driveway, full house, full heart
New South Essays 