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Halloween has meant many different things to me depending upon the year. Have your Halloweens followed a similar trajectory?

Halloween is one of the few holidays that has changed completely depending on how old I am. As a child, I donned a Halloween costume and went trick-or-treating, hoping to accumulate as much candy as possible in the allotted time. I learned to despise homeowners who gave us trail mix or Rice Crispie squares and…

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Who is watching these political ads?

The Center for Responsive Politics estimates that nearly $4 billion will be spent on television advertising for the 2014 midterm elections, up from $3.6 billion in 2010.  My question: Who is watching these ads? We’re about two weeks from Election Day, and I have yet to see a single political ad on television. I suspect…

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Our little yoga clocks

One of our routines at the dinner table is to talk about the best part of each one of our days. Charlie is only two years-old and doesn’t quite get it, but whenever we ask, his answer is almost always the same: “Yoga!” He says this even if it’s been a week since he has…

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11 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was 20

Author Shelli Johnson posted a list entitled 10 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was 20.  As such, I was inspired to write my own list. Unlike Johnson, who was 25 when she wrote her list, I am more than two decades away from 20 and perhaps have greater perspective on the issue. I…

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Today will be one of the hardest days of parenting so far. I know I’m lucky in this respect, but there is still a hole in my heart.

My daughter is sick. Her kindergarten class has a field trip to the pumpkin patch today. She’s going to miss the trip. Last month she was also sick. She missed her class’s field trip to the apple orchard. Thanks to a couple of poorly timed fevers, Clara is missing the first two field trips of…

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Don’t say goodbye to the bride and groom. Just leave. Let it be your final gift to them.

Slate’s Seth Stevenson argues in favor of not saying goodbye. Ghosting—aka the Irish goodbye, the French exit, and any number of other vaguely ethnophobic terms—refers to leaving a social gathering without saying your farewells. One moment you’re at the bar, or the house party, or the Sunday morning wedding brunch. The next moment you’re gone.…

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I began the day as a depressed and angry idiot. I ended the day with laughter and rainbows and sunshine. Literally. The lesson: Don’t give up hope.

Bad start to the day. Arrived at my friend’s house, 40 minutes from my home, having forgotten without my ticket to the Patriots’ game. It requires an incredible amount of stupidity to do such a thing, and I felt like an idiot. This meant that I would need to drive back home, pick up my…

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My son cracked his head open with a lamp. My wife’s reaction to his head wound was unusual but surprisingly typical.

Our boy pulled a lamp down onto his head last night, necessitating a trip to the emergency room. A little glue and some Steri-Strips, and he was fine. He’ll have a scar in almost the same place where his father got his first scar at about the same age.   Of course, because it was…

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My new startup idea: Rate My Parents

You’ve probably heard of Rate My Professors and Rate My Teachers.   I’m thinking of launching a new startup: Rate My Parents Go online and rate you parents in a number of pertinent categories. Rate My Professors and Rate My Teachers use the following three criteria: Helpfulness Clarity Easiness These are fine criteria, but I…

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