Today, my 16-year-old daughter bought her first prom dress. Although I thought I was the one to take her shopping, her father took her. The two of them found a gorgeous, yet simple, floor-length, sleeveless, black dress as well as a pair of patented leather pumps with a reasonable heel height. They bought this outfit […]

Read more "The First Prom Dress"

When given the opportunity to spend long stretches of time with someone, we have the opportunity to get to know that person better, learn more about that person’s life, and see aspects of that person’s character that perhaps are only revealed with hours of “togetherness.” For the most part, when those with an established affinity […]

Read more "To See and Be Seen"

With recount deadlines looming in Florida, the cynical have the opportunity to use the fact that a recount is happening as another example of the failures of our voting system. The temptation to point to the “need for a recount” as evidence that the initial vote was flawed in some way neglects the fact that […]

Read more "The Intolerance of the Process"

Last week I wrote about a cheap fry pan that my family has been using, much to our dismay, for a while now that inevitably burns either the food we’re cooking or the person cooking the food itself. I used the opportunity of that essay to illustrate how some “things” in our lives might seem worth it, […]

Read more "The Restoration of Confidence in Selflessness"

A few weeks back, I had a conversation with a married couple and a high school classmate about the benefits of hiring a regular house cleaner. These three people were more than enthusiastic about their “help,” so much so that the classmate said that she “would give up lots of things, but never Angelica.” Of […]

Read more "Why get a House Cleaner if You Have $3.99"

As a family of six, we have instilled a sense of reasonableness with respect to how we spend our money. So when the opportunity arises that we can find something we need cheaply, we tend to jump on it. When the day came that we found this fry pan, we were sure that it would […]

Read more "Getting Burned by Attachment"

In the middle of a cerebral conversation with a dear friend, it occurred to me that we humans seem to believe that we have the capacity to make thoughtful and genuine choices for ourselves but that this notion is illusory. Let’s say that someone is considering the pros and cons of two options. And for […]

Read more "You Never Really Had a Choice"

There’s nothing better than that feeling you get from placing a check mark next to a completed task, or crossing out an item in heavy ink, or filling in that circle that was drawn to the left of a tedious chore. Whatever you use to mark the accomplishment, there’s something uniquely satisfying about making that […]

Read more "Put It on My (Never) To-Do List"

There’s nothing more satisfying than reading writing advice from someone who has something truly wonderful to share. Conversely, there’s nothing more disheartening than someone, posing as an “authority” on writing, sharing his/her deep and penetrating wisdom on “the craft” which is riddled with grammatical errors and sloppy information. Today, I attended a helpful seminar on […]

Read more "When the Advice Givers Bum You Out"

More and more, we are encouraged to be present, mindful, and engaged. Some of us regard this as nearly impossible. We have lots of commitments, lots of tasks, and lots of people relying on us. Allowing ourselves a few minutes to “just be” seems like an indulgence. (If you’ve gotten this far, I’m confident you’ll […]

Read more "If you think you’re too busy to read this, then you’re exactly who should . . ."