A Journal of the Plague Year: #8

I think the resident teenager is depressed. He is not content to stay at home or to go without visitors. The company of his parents does not thrill him. They coax him to come out, are successful from time to time, in small doses finding him in good spirits, but more often than not, theyContinue reading “A Journal of the Plague Year: #8”

T@B Diaries #2: Stubb Stewart St. Park

in which Michael almost gives up on the trip before calling neighbor Dave to help him hitch up the trailer to the stupid van in which Michael and his son Emerson and their new dog Tana embark on the first father-son-dog trip with the T@B in which it snows and rains a lot, but still opportunitiesContinue reading “T@B Diaries #2: Stubb Stewart St. Park”

#143: The Silent Note-Writing Game

The Silent Note-Writing Game I don’t know how we landed on the idea. Perhaps chaos of the 9 year old variety inspired me to propose a game in which we must be silent and can only communicate through written notes to each other back and forth on a shared piece of paper or two. He loved it. And in the lastContinue reading “#143: The Silent Note-Writing Game”

#48: Learning to Ride

Learning to Ride He’s seven, reluctant to ride independently, most of his classmates far ahead on two wheels, which has not been a problem for him, so he says. No, I’m scared, he has said.  No, I like the scooter better, he has said. I will never ride a bike, he has said.  Never, heContinue reading “#48: Learning to Ride”

Of Fatherhood: The Most Difficult Job Ever Invented

Outside of motherhood, that is.  The way I see it, the three most difficult jobs ever invented, in this order, are motherhood, fatherhood, and teaching in an underfunded public school.  I’ve taken on two out of three.  I find fatherhood exceedingly difficult and this perturbs me.  Whose big idea was it in the first place,Continue reading “Of Fatherhood: The Most Difficult Job Ever Invented”