We got an envelope from my daughter’s junior high the other day, and the big, dumb-old dad in me immediately started to worry. Her grade card had come a few days earlier, and it was all good, but my paternal paranoia kicked in: Did she get caught doing something she shouldn’t? Not doing ...

My son came in from playing the other day and, beaming as he stripped out of his cold-weather gear, proudly proclaimed, “Well, we can cross one thing off my life list.” Maybe, I thought, during a break in snowball making, my brilliant 9-year-old boy had discovered a cure for cancer. Or ...

Back when my kids were younger, they used to love for my wife and me to read the Froggy series of books to them. For those uninitiated in the finer examples of kiddie lit, Froggy is the title character in an eponymous series of books in which the forgetful protagonist embarks on a series of ...

“So, did you ride your bike today?” asked a racquetball buddy, smirking. “What, no bike today?” joked another, smugly. “Where’s the bike? Too snowy for ya?” asked a co-worker, savoring the moment as he held the door open as we walked in together from the, ugh, parking ...

You folks are hard to figure. By “you folks,” I don’t mean “you people,” as in, “There goes the neighborhood.” I mean, “you folks,” as in, regular readers of this blog. You know who you are, and may God have mercy on your souls. I have the darnedest time figuring you ...

Generally, I’m not big on bike bling. It’s not that I’m averse to alliteration. And I’m not opposed to pretty. Just take one glance at my gorgeous wife (and, honey, Merry Christmas! I’ve procrastinated enough that might be the only present I get you. But, remember, it’s the ...