Heat Weirdlastname There is no shortage of parenting advice out there. Its quality varies, and its application varies. I’ve also figured out that many of the pieces that are excellent are applicable to all humans, not just little ones. Avoid saying “be careful.” Why? It’s useless. Give specifics. What do you actually want them to watch out … Read more
Photos this week are from The Kid’s school (took the camera with for pick-up one day) and from after Halloween. The lead photo is a stump that, prior to getting into this journey, I never would have noticed. But it makes a neat photo. Trash can. Not the best photo, but I thought the … Read more
October and November hold quite a few anniversaries for me: my birthday and The Kid’s birthday. Getting National Board Certified. Finishing chemo. Today is none of those. I made it a year! Every day, a post has gone live. Days I was sick. Days I was on vacation. Days that were just regular days. Sometimes … Read more
This popped up recently in my Facebook memories. I was going to rewrite it, but it’s succinct and to the point as-is. (The year this was written, Halloween was on the upcoming Friday.) It’s red ribbon week (AIDS? heart disease? hemophilia? no—substance abuse!). As part of celebrating (?) at school, some information is included in … Read more
I am just a few days shy of a year of daily blog posts here. At the beginning, it was pretty easy, as the beginning often is. Because—exciting! And then it was less easy. Because—work! The last few weeks, there have been many days that, were it not for the streak, I wouldn’t have written … Read more
So many people discrediting each other based on their age. “You are [young/old] so you don’t know anything” attitude. Take age out of it. Is the person informed? Experienced in this? Depending on who/what the conversation is about, are they articulate? Do they look at things from multiple vantage points? People at any age can … Read more
There’s a park not too far from our house. It’s been closed for about 6 months to be redone. The Kid and I walked over the other day to check progress and to take some photos along the way. It looks like it will be opening soon, and we got some good shots.
I like to been seen. So do you. Might be in totally different ways or contexts or audiences, but we all want to be seen, understood. As a kid, I was introverted and socially anxious, good academically, and eager to please. In elementary school, I more or less spoke when spoken to. I remember clearly … Read more
A quote crossed my path. It ties into my thoughts a few weeks ago about hidden sides of people, though that train of thought was more about context. This one is more personal. Intimate. “There’s the you that you present to the world, and then there’s, you know, of course the real one and, if … Read more
When a sentence has two parts—the first part positive and the second part negative—the conjunction makes a big difference in how the complete sentence is received. “You played that song really well, but this note should be two beats.” “You played that song really well, and this note should be two beats.” “You played that … Read more