The Original Blog

  Nine. Seven. Four. How is that possible? My kids are growing up. I can remember holding them in the hospital when they were just born. And now I'm fussing at them for raiding the refrigerator. I tell my little girls almost every day to stop growing up. They're at the perfect age right now. They're at the perfect size. The world isn't the mean, cold place that you and I live in. Santa Claus is real. Dreams can still come true. Hopes have not yet been dashed. Hearts haven't been broken. So, stop growing up, damn it! Enough already! I'm sure this is true with every generation, but it's so much different for my kids than it was for me. I'm willing to go on record, though, that Gen X's kids have a WAY different childhood than their kids are having. I'm reminded of this daily. A few days ago, Briar and I walked to the big kids' school to join them on their walk home. We met another mom who is a good friend of ours and we chatted on our walk. The ...

  A long, long time ago before computers and email, letters were the means of communicating with friends and family. Yes, youngsters, it seems antiquated as hell, but we would sit down with a pen and paper and write letters to people. And then we would have to put those letters in envelopes and mail them. It would take days for the letters to reach their destination. The letter that you write might then prompt a response letter. That would take days to arrive. Writing and receiving letters was a slow, drawn-out process. But I loved it! I have always loved to write. I love words and the art of combining them to make unbelievable things. For some of us, this is our truest form of communication. For some of us, expressing ourselves with words is the only way we feel like we can speak from our hearts and minds. So, when I got to the age of notes and letters, I was all too eager to participate. Here's another fact that's going to blow your mind youngsters: way back then we didn'...