Today, I thought it would be fun to contemplate the best decisions I have ever made. Like everyone else, I have made plenty of bad decisions, but I’m already really great at remembering them, dwelling on them, and eviscerating myself about them. You know, “worst critic” and all that. I don’t need to be always doing that. Neither do you. Especially because on the whole, I would say that I’m ...
I have to travel sometimes for work, and pretty much every time I stay in a hotel, I am fascinated by my hotel room’s minibar. Why, you ask? Well, first off, I typically have just gotten off a multiple-hour airplane leg, and I’m desperate and absolutely starving. Second, I really don’t want to try to find a decent restaurant around me, because I’m exhausted from airports and lines and people ...
Recently someone told me during a conversation about the seasons of life that “the days are long but the years are short.” I’m sure that quote has been around forever, but it struck me as if those words were uttered for the very first time, and I’ve been thinking about it over the last week. Life does seem to speed up when we get older. And even though as an ...
“Society treats kids and senior citizens the same,” Rachel remarked to me the other day, and it got me thinking a lot about the truth of that statement on many levels. In the main, there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of time, respect, and wholehearted care given to those populations by the mass of individuals who find themselves chronologically between them, even if they are related to them. ...
Driving on the backroads of Ireland is very stressful and downright scary sometimes. This is no exaggeration. Americans like me are already at a bit of a disadvantage because the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, and the Irish drive on the left side of the road. Secondly, Irish roads are notoriously curvy and hilly – and the signs say you can go a lot faster ...
Somehow, some way, a bit over twenty-four months have passed while I’ve been doing this marriage thing. What the pez!? You’ll recall I shared some of the lessons learned after one year of being hitched, and I thought it would be important to reflect again now that we’ve hit another milestone. I’m not sure how the first couple years are supposed to be, or tend to be. Are we still ...
While living in a dorm room this summer at a university in Ireland, I was reminded about one aspect of human nature I really dislike. I had to get to another campus to give a speech, and went downstairs to the reception desk to ask someone to please call me a taxi. However, the person behind the desk really didn’t seem interested, and appeared put out by my request even ...
By now, I’m going to assume you’ve seen the viral video of a political expert being interviewed via Skype by the BBC, and the comedy that ensues when his two daughters boldly and innocently enter into his home office before being corralled and yanked out of there by their completely embarrassed mom. I saw the video early on Friday morning, and immediately showed Rachel (who loved it because that could ...
Have you ever been humming along in one direction, and then all of a sudden life takes a sharp, quick turn? And while the effect may not be disabling or deadly, it does throw you for a loop. And leave you wondering “what now, God?” That is what has happened to me – and by no means is it crippling, nor does it induce a state of depression or rage. ...
I have a three-year old nephew named Blake, and he is the cutest thing alive. I bet that all uncles say that about their nephews and nieces, but I personally think Blake would out-cute all other cute kids in any cuteness competition! Well, he and his family visited us this summer, and we spent our days going to the beach, swimming in the neighborhood pool, watching movies, and just spending ...