As I was recently arranging care for my ailing father-in-law, a friend texted me that I was in the “sandwich generation.” I texted back “No, that doesn’t quite capture it. A sandwich can be light and fluffy – it is more like a panini – hot pressure squeezing on both sides.” She replied: “Ha! You...Continue reading
If we had the ability to make ourselves live forever without losing our youthfulness, would we? According to Jonathan Weiner in his thought provoking book Long for this World we may be moving in that direction more than we speculated–whether we like it or not. The health and beauty industry has taken full advantage of...Continue reading
As a father, there is nothing more difficult than watching your child suffer. In 2001, my son was just 15 months old and very, very sick. He would spike 106-degree fevers twice a day. He literally couldn’t move a muscle because of the pain. He spent a month in an intensive care unit before they...Continue reading
As a father, you want to protect your children and do everything you can to ensure that they lead a happy, healthy life. And the best way to do that is to be happy and healthy yourself. Summer vacation may have started, but June is about more than summer camps and backyard BBQs. It’s Men’s...Continue reading
How do you solve tough problems? Maybe you pick at them until they’re gone. Maybe you dance around them until they’re contained. One thing I like to do is to step away and examine them as an outsider, from a completely different perspective. In other words, get out of the trees and look at the whole...Continue reading
Unless you’re on a desert island, chances are there’s a laser within just a few feet of you. In fact, there’s a pretty good case to be made that our lives wouldn’t be the same without them. If you’ve got a cat or a dog, you’ve probably used a laser pointer to entertain yourself by...Continue reading
Thomas Wolfe says, “You can never go home again.” However, to go forward, I have to go backward from time to time. I return to the places where the dreams began: my hometown and the small college where I did my undergraduate work. That’s where I’m sitting right now, writing these pages. Through the windows I see the amphitheater...Continue reading
Most of us have negative reactions to certain sounds, the most famous of which is probably chalk or fingernails on a blackboard. (Interestingly, as chalk and blackboards go the way of the floppy disk, many people are just as bothered by the sound of dry erase markers squeaking on whiteboards.) But there’s a big difference...Continue reading
It’s no secret that guilt plays havoc with our health. People who feel guilty for extended periods of time are, on average, more depressed, more anxious, more stressed, and have a weaker immune system than those who go through life without the guilt. They’re also more likely to engage in risky, destructive behavior, including self-medicating...Continue reading