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Moment of Truth
In which the author entered a new decade Here’s how a man rings in his fortieth birthday: in full diving gear, he enters a secured cage submerged just below the salty sea surface far off the coast of...
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Birthdays are Better with Cake (and Other Reflections)
Birthdays are better with cake.Wine is better with bubbles.Morning is better with coffee.Afternoons are better with naps.Evenings are better with chocolate.Driving is better with music.TV is better...
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Who vs. What
Time Machine Series: Exploring Past, Present & FuturePASTBack in elementary school when the forms came around that asked you to state a race, I would check the box that said “white.” I had been...
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Idiot Moments [Podcast]
I don’t know exactly what it’s like for boys today, but when I was one back in the late 1940s into the mid-’50s, boys were constantly feeling they had to prove themselves. And this could be dangerous....
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Specs, Hugs and Bacon Rolls: the Anatomy of a Dad’s Birthday
Suddenly the lights go out, causing a frisson of excitement to run through the air and down your spine. Next, by pure magic, a flame flickers into existence. This spark warmly illuminates the faces of...
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Man Up
TASK #45: MAN UP “A clear conscience is often a sign of a bad memory.” Unknown It was my birthday this past weekend. I’ve always found birthdays to be confusing. You’re happy, ’cause it’s “your day”,...
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Birthday Expectations
I used to throw my eldest two children elaborate birthday parties. Their birthdays are only 10 days apart, so they shared them, and I could invite their friends all to the same party. They had the...
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To My Mother on Her Birthday
Dear Mom: Happy birthday! I’m glad you took the day off work and made it about you. So much of your life hasn’t been about you. It’s been about my grandmother, my grandfather, my uncle, and so many...
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Living in the Moment
She asks, “Am I bothering you?” No one ever asks me that, and it throws me for a minute, but I smile and say, “No, of course not.” Her movements are slow, always a somber expression, unless she is...
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Birthday Revelations From a 46 Year Old Korean Therapist With a Bloated Stomach
— Every year I write a birthday blog. I get up early. Ride my motorcycle somewhere far, (by far I mean like Burbank which is a fifteen-minute ride with traffic), sip hot coffee, and review my year....
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What Does a Birthday Mean?
— I am writing this on my birthday. As of today, I am now officially in my late 30s. Which, as we all know… means absolutely nothing. Sure there are the science things that happen like losing two...
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You Don’t Have Any More Birthdays to Waste
— A few months have gone by since two of my greatest childhood idols, John Havlicek and Bart Starr, passed away. I mourn their losses and thank them for the thrills they brought into my life. Who can...
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Where’s Black Widow?
My baby is turning five this week, a joyous occasion for her, a bittersweet one for me. Invitations have been passed out, a bouncy house reserved, cupcakes have been made. New toys have been purchased....
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I Really Don’t Want to Die: A Birthday Eve Story
So I turned 50 less than ago. 🙂 I’d been looking forward to it since my previous birthday. Who doesn’t want to be fifty and fabulous, right? LOL I had a good day, and that’s saying a lot. I woke up at...
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To My Son on His 21st Birthday: Lessons on Manhood
Dear Son, In my first letter, I related to you and your brother what I had learned about manhood from your father. On this, your 21st birthday, I want to acknowledge the lessons you have taught me: BE...
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Lessons on Manhood: To My Younger Son on His 21st Birthday
It’s now a family tradition. A couple years ago, in an attempt to fill the void left by the loss of your dad, I wrote Lessons on Manhood I Learned From Your Father for your brother and you. The...
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Birthday in Isolation
This time last year, I celebrated my birthday with friends. We went out to dinner, had wine and conversation. We went to a nightclub and danced to music until we felt our age. In the morning, we went...
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Birthdays, Graduations and Mixed Emotions
There are few times that can trigger such contradictory emotions in a parent as birthdays and graduation ceremonies. They are proud, happy moments, celebrations of accomplishments and another year...
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An Effort to Attend
A few years ago I wrote a marginally clever post about kid’s birthday parties and how they should be held in the summer months if at all possible. You spend a few hundred bucks on a bounce house, order...
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Century Celebration
Weeks before our mother turned one hundred, things were looking good, the country had opened back up after a coronavirus shutdown, and then it returned, a bad sequel. The facility planned for her...
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