My journey to balance family, work, and water polo.
Injuries of the Heart
He sat next to the judge in the witness chair. Of medium height and build with a clean shaven head, he recalled the night in the hospital where he lost his dad, role model, grandfather to his newborn son and best friend. In the small courtroom he spoke directly to the...
His Voice
I pause in front of the door. On the other side, you all wait. A spouse, sons and daughters, sometimes with their own small children in tow. Today it’s your husband and father you have come for. Yesterday it was someone else's mother. You have come from near and far,...
Sixteen Redux
There you are, in the big chair, half curled and snuggled up against me. A tangled clump of hair covers part of your face. You’re somewhere between wake and sleep listening to Goodnight Moon and my made up stories of butterflies and rainbow fish. You are warmth to my...
Sunrise
What do you do when you know someone is going to die? I'm not talking about death when it comes at the end of a long protracted illness or a terminal diagnosis. Or the final act at the end of a "good" life, when the body and mind have ultimately given way. I'm talking...
Change Redux
It started almost as a little hum... a vibration in my head, felt more than heard. A connection between some deep part of my brain straight to inside my chest. In the days leading up to my college graduation I mostly ignored it. Easy enough in the midst of goodbye...
Walk with me…
Walk with me, why don't you? It's about time, don't you think? We have been avoiding this for quite a while. But it is best to bring this out from the shadows and into the light. Let's take a walk... Thru a part of my day. But be careful. You won't like what you see....
Clarity of the Unknown
Maybe it's the Jeep with its top down, whipping thru the wind on the highway. Maybe it's the music playing...a combination of new and old. Of fast and imploring. Of slow and restrained. Maybe it's the caffeine from my first cup of coffee in a week starting to work its...
Ch Ch Ch Changes..
“Ch-ch-changesDon’t want to be a richer manCh-ch-ch-ch-changesTurn and face the strangeCh-ch-changesJust gonna have to be a different manTime may change meBut I can’t trace time” -David Bowie Months have passed since I last wrote. Thoughts, musings, topics have...
Bittersweet
There you are amongst the crowd. One of thirty freshman. And my breath is taken from me. For a moment, the briefest moment, everything else on my mind fades away. The whirlwind of stress that has been the background beat for the last several months is now muted, and...
Family
It's been a rough day. No...more accurate a rough afternoon. Being home on "vacation" is usually not a good thing. My presence in the house is disruptive, changing the normal routines and patterns that have been established by my family. I throw things off, challenge...
The Ties that Bind and the Weight of Connection
Traevelling 30,000 feet above the ground on my way back to Chicago, it’s hard not to think about distance and space. How people in the same room can still feel worlds apart while others can be physically separated by hundreds of miles and still be intimately...
Focus
I pull into the driveway, trying to leave that last of my work day behind. As I enter the house, I am greeted by the all too familiar semi-chaotic scene. Lola comes jumping into the hallway, happy to greet, while my kids stay somewhat immobile in their current...