'The talk' with 11-year-old begins with 'Eww!' but may lead to a 'Sigh!'
There he is, aging right before my eyes. In the churchy light of early morning, I can see the peach fuzz emerging on his face. Pre-whiskers. What's next? A pimple? Puberty? Dear Gawwwwd.
View ArticleIn the pretty Eastern Sierra, fish don't bite and dinner doesn't come
We have found Longfellow's forest primeval, the murmuring pines of the Eastern Sierra. The trees breathe out; we breathe in.
View ArticleSeeing the value of boys reflected in the heart of 'Boyhood'
We're all works in progress, but perhaps none so much as little boys, whom everyone is bagging on these days. Boys lag at this and boys trail at that. We'll see how it all turns out.
View ArticleDear schools, let the kids have August
We test them almost to death, we make them play sports till their arms fall off and their knees implode. Now we're taking away our children's summers. Do we not like them anymore?
View ArticleSo what to do with this last kid in the house? Hop on a roller coaster
It's early, say 7 a.m., and everything about this school morning seems a little off. The dog needs to go out a third time — he never does that.
View ArticleBeing father to a daughter with a boyfriend: Feelings just catapult
We don't do the beach the easy way. We drive too long, then walk too far, lugging way too much stuff. The way Eisenhower stormed vital sand, so do we.
View ArticleA man and his manopause
There are moments, at age 57, when I feel stiff and rusty, like something Picasso welded together. For instance, I ate so many marinated mushrooms the other night that I threw out my back. I also...
View ArticleA low-pressure job has him in high spirits
Did something wicked the other day, not uproariously wicked, just slightly so, in one of those little subversive ways husbands handle mundane requests. After my wife asked me to turn up the water...
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