Family
Picking up the Pieces
“New Insights into the Hidden World of Autism”
The headline screamed from a Time magazine cover as I was walking through the Des Moines airport, awaiting my flight home from a two-day client visit. As my tastes in periodicals tend to run towards the entertainment, sports or video game mags, it’s not the sort of cover story that would normally grab my gaze. But… those words in that bold print collaborated to jog something loose in my sub-conscious – a nagging threat that I had, for the moment, kept successfully at bay.
I grabbed the magazine and paged through it on the long flight home. After completing the article, I ran through it again, my mind honing in on key notes – “Signs For Parents To Watch For” – that echoed the internal murmurs I had heard late at night... Continue reading »
Off They Go
Editor’s Note: This was originally published in September 2009.
On that inevitable day that I find myself on the business end of a waterboarding treatment, pressed to divulge the most intimate thoughts crated in my cabeza, when my grand inquisitors finally get around to the topic of Favorite Blog Posts, I know exactly which one I’ll name Numero Uno. Off He Goes – my heartfelt tribute to Colin’s first day of kindergarten. Of course, longtime readers of this site could also pick that post from a lineup as I’ve often referenced it and held it up as the shining beacon that illuminates this site when it all comes together just right.
Yeah – there’s a dollop of hubris for ya’, but dammit, my name’s all over this site so despite the... Continue reading »
Off He Goes
Editor’s Note: This was originally published in September 2008.
When I was five years old, my family resided on the Mean Streets of Everett, MA. At the time, I was enrolled in Kindergarten at the Hamilton Elementary School – a brick and mortar classroom that sat sentinel at the base of a large hill that stood between my home and the school’s foundation. There were multiple ways to get to school on foot but each involved journeying across several blocks of urban cityscape before arriving at that final destination – a foolhardy pursuit for even the toughest mofo. In those days, the swan song of the late 70’s, mankind hadn’t perfected the fine art of “Sue Everyone” so the school systems found themselves benefit of the litigious illiterate and etc... Continue reading »
The Impossible Dream
Editor’s Note – This was originally published in 2006.
I’ve been in a family mood lately.
Of course, I am grand patriarch to a modest brood (my son Colin, daughter Aria and two dogs of whom a paternity test has proven I am not the biological father but love all the same). Unless you’re some deadbeat who collects ’72 Novas in his front yard and downs Schlitz by the gallon while shouting to your kinfolk to “Git R Done!!!” – it’s hard not to feel in the family way most every day. All it takes is a turn into your driveway – on some cold winter’s day after the grueling grind at the ‘nine to five’ - where a quick peek at your front window reveals the silhouette of a head (or in my case four heads) peering out, awaiting you... Continue reading »
In Memoriam: Grandpa Ron Clarke
Shortly after Andi and I met and began running each other through the gauntlet of initial family meet and greets (the one sure sign or test that you’ve found a decent candidate for life partner), she marveled at just how fortunate I was to have the majority of my grandparents playing major vibrant roles in my life.
That was almost two decades ago.
As I write this, I am closing the final pages on my thirties (with 40 less than two years away) and am just now saying goodbye to my beloved Grandpa Ron. Born in May 1920, he lived a bountiful life – full of early experience and adventure tempered with that suburban domestic bliss that everyone hopes to attain as the years wind on. On June 30, 2010 – over ninety years after my Grandpa Ron graced the planet with his presence, he passed away surr... Continue reading »
Underwire: One Year Undercover with the Monkeybar Mafia
As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be in the Mom’s Club.
The problem is, when you’re packing a package, that’s a pretty tall order. It doesn’t matter how many Glee eps you watch, Zumba classes you take or scrapbook pages you fake, if you’re clutching cargo you ain’t vaulting their velvet rope. Outside looking in, sport.
But rob a man of his job and what he loses in dignity he makes up for with opportunity. One door closes and another window opens – a portal into that exclusive club where chicks bitch all day about their no-good husbands while secretly thanking their lucky stars that their hubby doesn’t suck nearly as bad as their BFF’s does.
Of course, much of this is pure hyperbole coming from a guy who never met a fact he couldn&#... Continue reading »
R & R
In early May, my Mom retired after working 22 years for the South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth, MA. This prompted my sisters and I to throw a little celebratory gala in honor of a woman who has worked tirelessly on all fronts during every bustling phase of her life. My sisters handled the lion’s share of the planning but asked me to say a few words in honor of our dear Mom. I’ve reprinted those thoughts here to live on in cyber eternity. This is just the tiniest testament to her amazing accomplishments in working hard to build a great family.
When I sat down to write this little toast to my Mom, I realized pretty quickly that I made a slight error in drafting that original invitation. While my sisters and I invited all of you here to honor my mother as she turned the pag... Continue reading »
Aria at Five
Five years old sort of makes it all official. They’re not babies any more.
If that was a bitter pill to swallow when Colin turned the page two years ago; it makes today even more bittersweet – as I look to my Little Princess, Daddy’s Little Girl, growing in leaps and bounds with every day. With the end of her preschool career mere weeks away, and the knowledge that after that increasingly shorter spell of Summer that looms ahead will likely be consumed before we know it, Aria is headed to kindergarten and hence a full day session of schooling, five days a week – there is the inescapable fact that another chapter in her own personal storybook is shuttered for good.
Daddy’s Little Girl is growing up and despite the fact that I can vanquish the mightiest of bedtime beasties wh... Continue reading »
Jacked and Pumped
Starting in the Spring, my household jumps aboard a rolling birthday rally.
In late April, our beloved yellow lab Abby hits her birthday. As we turn the page to May, Colin celebrates his Cinco de Mayo birth with a celebratory Corona or two of the virgin variety and begins etching plans for a month-long celebration. A couple weeks after Colin, our black lab Chatham hits her mark before leaving the stage open for Aria to close the month out properly with her special day. And then one week after her May 31st milestone, I bring up the rear and continue my descent to the underworld.
With two young children sharing opposite ends of the same month, my wife and I have been fortunate to plan one mega-party covering both events – inviting all of their friends (of which there is significant overlap) for a mid-May shind... Continue reading »
Colin at Seven
Seven years ago today, I was so sure I had it all figured out.
When Andi and I first discovered she was pregnant – after being awoken in the middle of the night in the middle of the deep, dark woods in the middle of the only real wilderness we’d ever truly ventured into (i.e. the comfy campgrounds of Acadia State Park in Northeastern Maine) with what Andi could only describe as the first stages in an alien infestation, we went through all the normal preparations that seemingly normal, first time parents go through.
We vetted our suspicions through an actual practicing doc and not just the baker’s dozen of EPT that the local CVS dropped on us (Hey – we were in Northeastern Maine where the local yokels have barely mastered fire, we weren’t taking any chances). We excitedly told our friend... Continue reading »
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