Archive for July 2018
Twelve years of marriage today!
Today Elysha and I celebrate 12 years of marriage. As I look upon the photos taken from that perfect day in 2006, I’m astounded by all that has taken place in the last dozen years. Twelve years isn’t a terribly long period of time, and yet I feel like we’ve lived a lifetime since that…
Read MoreFly, Baby Trump! Fly!
You probably heard about the baby Trump balloon being flown in protest of Trump’s visit to London. In addition to flying it over Parliament Square during his visit with the Queen, video and stills of the balloon have been all over the news, and protesters have been filling Trump’s Twitter feed with video of the…
Read MoreBiggest fan and greatest nemesis meet. Results are climactic.
I first wrote about this story back in 2012. It’s one of those stories almost too strange to be believed. It involves two people. One of them is a woman from Wisconsin named Charity. The other is a man from Connecticut whose name I will avoid using to protect his identity, though I would take…
Read More“Do we believe in heaven?”
Driving home from the farmer’s market on Sunday, Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven came on the radio. Elysha asked the kids, “What’s the name of this song?” “Stairway to Heaven!” they shouted in unison. “And who sings it?” she asked. “Led Zeppelin,” they answered. Elysha smiled and relaxed in her seat, feeling that her job…
Read MorePrankster satisfaction
Brilliance learned on the internet this week: Scratch haunting things into bananas at the market so when people take them home hours later and the words appear they think a ghost knows their secrets. Ingenious. Right? The one problem with this prank is that the prankster is never afforded the opportunity to witness the results…
Read MoreIt’s too early for something as depressing as this.
It’s 6:22 AM. Clara quietly comes down the stairs in pajamas and slippers. She yawns. Walks over to the table. Sits beside me. First words out of her mouth: “Dad, I was just thinking about the Great Depression. How did the stock market crash in the first place?” 6:22 AM and she was “just thinking…
Read MoreSpeak Up Storytelling #8: Sharon Snow
Episode #8 of Speak Up Storytelling is now ready for your listening pleasure. On this week’s episode, we talk about finding and crafting stories in your everyday life using my strategy “Homework for Life.” I describe how stories can take years to develop and how the craziest thing that happened on a day might not make…
Read More“How do you get so much done?”
The question most frequently asked of me during interviews and at the end of book talks, lectures, and the like is some variation of “How do you get so much done?” It’s sort of an impossible question to answer, because the actual answer could fill the pages of a book. At some point it might. …
Read MoreDaddy taught her well
Clara’s spelling and handwriting aren’t great, but when you see the phrase, “…just like Dad taught me” it really doesn’t matter. It’s remarkable how good five words on a math assignment can make you feel.
Read MoreI don’t know my father had a second or third heart attack, so leave me alone.
A couple months ago, when I had my heart attack-turned-pulled chest muscle scare, doctors, nurses, and even the ambulance crew kept asking me the same question: “Does your father have a history of heart disease?” And every time, I said the same thing: “I know he had at least one heart attack, and maybe he…
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