This is Lucy’s first year riding bike without training wheels. This weekend she rode her tiny, pink bike in circles, calling out to me across the yard.
“Daddy, look, I’m doing it, I’m doing it! I’m riding on flat ground!”
Then, crash.
Continue reading “Failure’s Forgotten Lesson”
Game night at the Smucker house. Popular choices recently have been “Ticket to Ride” or “Blockus,” strategy games that I love playing with my kids because I can see their little brains working hard to figure things out.
Recently though, they’ve been going with an old standby from my childhood. I loved this game when I was growing up, but after playing it the other night, I’m not so sure.
What game could get my attention so much that I’m blogging about it?
That’s right.
The Game of Life. Continue reading “Men Drive and Women Sit in the Passenger Seat”
Last night, while an October mist drifted around the house, and the occasional leaf fluttered against the darkened window, I worked on a revision with clients who are now friends. They drank glasses of white wine – I consumed coffee. Their dining room light was the only light on in the house, and their Boxer prowled under the table, bumping into me, resting his chin on my knee, looking for a little attention.
Continue reading “(Revised) Words With Friends”
Two years ago this week, Maile and I moved our family into my parent’s basement, and I began the tenuous venture of trying to write for a living. So much has happened since then, but when I looked back through my journal of that week, this entry caught my attention:
Continue reading “Two Years Ago I Started Writing For a Living”
For some reason, the words of a lady from our church in Florida still stick in my mind. She said them over ten years ago, but thinking back on them brings a slight increase in my blood pressure.
Continue reading “Guess Who Thought A Familiarity With Literature Could Help the Church?”
First Ascent: In climbing, a first ascent (FA) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First ascents are notable because they entail genuine exploration, with greater risks, challenges, and recognition than climbs which follow.
Continue reading “Want to be the First? You’d Better Be Willing to Fall…And Climb Again”
