One of my all-time favorite movies is The Sandlot. Young Scott Smalls moves to a new neighborhood. His mom encourages him to get out, make friends, and even “get into a little trouble.” The movie is based on Scotty and his friends’ adventures on and...
As someone who works with married couples, I hate this type of message from someone I haven’t heard from in a while: “Hey, I was wondering if you would have time for a call, coffee, or lunch.” Translation, 99% of the time: “My marriage has...
On my first scuba dive, we were instructed to go down the anchor rope and wait at the bottom. The instructor said to me, “You go first; you aren’t scared.” He was right. I was 18 and wasn’t smart enough to be scared, because what...
At first, you may think my dad made one of the biggest parenting mistakes. Thinking it was safer than a motorcycle, he bought me a three-wheel ATV when I was 12. The Consumer Product Safety Commission eventually banned these tricycles of terror due to countless...
I wish you could meet my friend Mark. He has about 10 years on me, but I want to be him when I grow up. Mark’s great for many reasons, but I think the thing that sticks out the most is that everyone else comes...
When my son Chapman was a baby, I would bring him on to stage as a speaking prop. Don’t judge! As I sat on a stool, I would sit him in my lap and sing one verse of “Build Me Up Buttercup” while moving his...
There are times when life gets challenging professionally and personally. Maybe you aren’t loving or have lost your job. Maybe you have health issues that are impacting all parts of your life. Maybe you’ve lost a parent, and it still hurts. When life gets tough,...
Some Christmas gifts can offer immediate joy, communicate love, and even create lasting memories. But can we pause for a five-minute, nationwide Christmas gifts sanity check? We string lights all over a tree and cover it with knick-knacks. Under said tree we place decoratively disguised...
When my oldest daughter was in 10th grade, she said something that floored me. She said she was going to her friend’s house. What? Just the night before, she spent 20 minutes in painstaking detail sharing how this same friend had been unkind to her....
If you are wondering how to save money in marriage, my wife has you covered. Family legend has it that she was already fiscally responsible at age 5. For her birthday, her grandmother gave her $20 in dollar bills. Nancie’s mom surprised her by using...