You've probably heard of the idea that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
This is usually shared as a caution for adults, or possibly even teenagers, to think thoughtfully about who we...
Guest lists for my kids’ birthday parties are always an ever-growing task. There’s the obvious friends' list which includes my kids’ classmates or sports team buddies, and then there’s the understandable family list involving the grandparents, aunts and uncles,...
When it came time to find a new place to live after my divorce, I was so anxious to find the right home. While looking at a new house, out the front door of the very immediate next door...
The first year I lived in New Orleans, I was safely ensconced on the campus of the Baptist seminary in Gentilly. Everyone else was also new in town and we had a little Mayberry of sorts inside those seminary...
Silver Lining
I am the first person to paint the world silver, putting a positive spin on anything bad or uncomfortable that happens in my life. People say "That's so you, always with a smile!" and I flash my teeth...
When my daughter and her classmates returned to in-person school in October, one of her (and my!) favorite differences from online school was the return of the Classroom Jobs. As I learned over the first few weeks, the jobs...
Being from New Orleans, you always have a connection to people. Friendships here go way back. I met four of my closest friends in the 4th grade. My husband's three best friends went to kindergarten with him. We have "aunts...
My phone buzzed with a text from an old friend: “You have to come to Kansas! I’m engaged!”
The two-week-old pile of laundry glared at me. My mind was full of an already full to-do list: work projects, forms to...
A couple of months ago I came upon an Instagram meme describing a dream trip for me: a group of book-lover friends going away together for a reading retreat where everyone brings a stack of books, reads all day,...
Friends. How many of us have them? Friends. The ones we can depend on. Whether we are fans of the television sitcom series Friends or Girlfriends, we are all familiar with the cliche dynamics of a group of friends....
The year was 1992, and I was 10 years old and about to ride in my first parade as a tomato. I rode with my grandma on Mardi Gras Day in one of the very loud truck parades that...
I won't bore you with the story of a friendship that went sour.
I'm not here to convince you that I was right, or that they were wrong. Most of us can admit that at some point we have felt...
"Tough it out."
"Be a Man."
"Punch him."
Aggression in boys and men is widely discussed. We are all informed of it and we know what it looks like. We know that we live in a culture that has encouraged physical aggression...
A couple of weeks ago, I was pursuing one of the mom groups I am a member of on Facebook. I noticed that one of the ladies posted asking for advice on how to gracefully decline a demand request...