Recent Posts

Thank you, Muhammad

Among the pages of captioned color photographs from my 2003 deployment is one that sticks out.  There’s a woman in uniform, not unlike every other picture I have of persons in Iraq.  But then there’s this guy.  He has no BDU t-shirt or DCU pants; he’s in a white cotton […]

a day in New York City

As I pulled my suitcase into the kitchen Sunday morning where the children were having cereal, my 8-year-old daughter asked where I was going. “I’m going to see a friend I made when I was the age you are now.” The stated reason for my trip Sunday afternoon was to […]

Halloween 2014

The 8-year-old started reading the “Harry Potter” books a few months ago; she’s finishing the last installment in the 30-45 minutes of extra awake time we give her after bath time.  Naturally, she wanted to dress like Hermione for Halloween this year.  So, we let her.  But what about the […]

Asheville, NC

Several years ago, when I was what older paralegals call a “baby lawyer,” I worked for an insurance defense firm that had an event each summer called the “associate retreat” that meant going out of town for a weekend with the people I saw every day at work, so we […]

DisneyWorld

We didn’t tell the children they’d be spending the weekend preceding the boy’s 6th birthday at one of the 4 Disney theme parks.  I unassumingly signed up for a legal conference covering veterans disability claims to be held in Orlando, booked a room at the Shades of Green resort, and […]

Miami is, in fact, nice

Growing up in Tennessee, all I knew about Miami was learned from “The Golden Girls,” since I wasn’t allowed to watch “Miami Vice.”  I knew it was nice and that it was a great place to be a geriatric female. A few years later, Will Smith taught me everyone had […]

Pork U. is for you

More than a year ago, my bride read about a class called “Pork U.” offered by Sam Huff from BBQ1 in Garden and Gun magazine.  She tried to enroll me as a birthday present; all classes were full.  She tried again the following year, but all classes for the year […]

Dragon*Con is even better after “Clone Wars” viewings

Even before the children saw Episodes IV-VI of the original “Star Wars” trilogy (which was a mere 5 weeks ago), they had started streaming “Clone Wars” episodes via Netflix.  I wasn’t sure if these shows were appropriate for small children or not, as they usually turned it on Saturday mornings […]

Lewes, Delaware

Lewes greeted us with signs declaring its status as the first town in the first state.  It was our first destination for spending more than a few hours on our 2,000 mile road trip, as it’s where my late maternal grandparents-in-law lived when my mother-in-law was young, and since neither […]