What would happen if you let the pause be uncomfortable? Let your child be who they are? Let the sickness run its course? Let your advice go untaken? Let your parents be disappointed in your decision? Let yourself compare unfavorably? Let the person in the […]
The holiday season is upon us, meaning chances are good you may have more family and social get-togethers coming up. But whether you dread holiday parties and figuring out what to chat about with everyone from young to old, left or right, happy or sad, […]
As it happened, Casper the box bed company was running a limited time sale the weekend we found out our friends, Christine and Sam, would be visiting at the end of October. The sale was great timing because of the two twins we have in […]
The worst part about life under the dominion of a toxic friend is the way that person manages to move in and take over your mind and body. A co-worker caught in that toxic dynamic started having chest pains so severe she had to go […]
In the 15 years we’ve been together, my partner Gary has done maybe seven things that have irritated me.* On average, that’s about one irritation every other year: in other words, kind of amazing. And so, when “Irritation #8” came along last week it took […]
After a long job-seeking rejection streak, one of organizational psychologist Robert Cialdini’s clients started asking one simple question at the beginning of a job interview which immediately ended his rejection streak. This person went on to get better jobs in his next three interviews by […]
Judging from how many articles there are out there with headlines like, “The 8 Top Anti-Inflammatory Foods for Anxiety” and, “The Only 5 Things You Need to Live a Good Life,” we appear to be in love with numbers. We just are. In fact, they […]
When a friend’s engineer husband decided to go back to school to become a lawyer, for some reason I couldn’t get over his decision to dive into three grueling years. This sounded just awful to me — they had two young kids at home. And […]
Philip Henderson, you don’t know it but you walked across my stage and initiated the climactic turning point the plot of my play hinged upon, the one I’d been reaching and reaching for these past 12 years. Alas, this starring role came at a price, […]
I committed my first cruelty at the innocent age of 4. And I knew it. We were a team almost from the get go, Amy and me. In the 4-kid ABBA rhyme scheme that was our family pattern, we were the tight middle core — […]
Make no mistake. Being me doesn’t come cheap. Wait, I can’t bear it. Starting off like that…Because my childhood didn’t endorse obsessive self blabbery, I just can’t bear not to step outside this story — yet one more story about me — for one moment, […]
Be cool. 