Nine weeks.  It has been nine weeks that my family has ‘Stayed Home’ together.  Like many people, we have channeled our nervous energy over the past few weeks into cleaning, organizing, home projects, and cooking.  A LOT of cooking.  I wish I was a person who would use all this time to develop a new skill.  How amazing would it be if I dedicated the last 9 weeks to learning Spanish, so that I could help my daughter with her Spanish homework?  Maybe if we knew that we were looking at 9 weeks instead of an annoying 9 days, I would have mentally prepared for it more.  Even with a crystal ball, could anyone really mentally prepare for a pandemic? While I didn’t develop a new skill or hobby over the last nine weeks, I do feel that my home is cleaner and more organized than ever.  One of my organization projects was a personal labor of love that gives the type of satisfaction that only a recovering scrapbooker could truly appreciate.  I made...

Please excuse me for a moment before I write this as I breakout into song.  For your reading enjoyment, I would imagine the cast of Rent singing this, rather than me.  I will not be on America’s Got Talent anytime soon. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes How do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets In midnights, in cups of coffee In inches, in miles In laughter, in strife In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes How do you measure a year in the life As 2019 ends and 2020 begins, I thought about the goals I set in the last year for my 40 before 40 challenge and the one that I am most proud of, was my reading challenge.   Everyone is guilty at times of putting themselves last.   We wait until the end of the day to relax.   We feed others before we feed ourselves.   (Talking to all th...

"It's not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world.  It’s our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.” – L.R. Knost I don’t think there is another parent in the world that would disagree with me when I say this is the toughest job we are given.   The most rewarding, but also the hardest.   We have a lot of sleepless nights.   We are always worried about this little human’s survival.   But to me, that’s not the hard part.   The hard part is how we help ensure that when they do grow up, that they are the best version of their selves they can be.   I’m sure each parent has a different image of that in their head.   Some have hopes for their financial security.   Some will focus on the impact they make on the world.   Some will provide all the training in the world for them to be a world class athlete.   There is nothing wrong with any of these aspirations f...

Travel means a lot of things to different people.   For some, it means adventure.   For others, relaxation.   For many, it means stress.   I travel for work on a weekly basis.   I sit in airports, on planes, and in hotel lobbies watching all the passengers and guests, imagining their stories.   Are they business travelers like me?   Families traveling with children could be visiting elder relatives or coming to Florida for a vacation.   Young men and women in groups could be traveling for sports teams or for their first vacation without parents.   Anxious passengers demonstrating they don’t typically fly, could be traveling for funerals or job interviews.   Everyone has a story.   I sit and watch and live vicariously through them for a few moments of time to feel what travel means for them.   When you travel via plane for work, it begins to feel as routine as commuting daily through traffic in a car.   You deal with ...

There is something magical about the theater.   The lights, beautiful stage design and props, the costumes all paint an enchanting background for the elegant dancing, and electric music.   I truly love it all.   I can’t tell you a time where I’ve gone to a performance and didn’t get goosebumps or a tear in my eye at some point.   It is an escape for the everyday where for a few hours you can get wrapped up in something whimsical and truly sensational.   I can’t remember my first live performance, but I can remember the first show that gave me the love.   I was fortunate enough to be a tag along on my aunt and uncle’s vacation to Europe when I was 14.   We spent some time in London and while we were there, we got to see the theatrical version of Beauty and the Beast.   Of course, the story and music were all very familiar from the Disney movie version, but seeing it live brought a whole new level of appreciation.   Since then, I haven’t b...

And just like that… we are in December.   I know I’m not alone in feeling this way, but every year it feels like I am anticipating fall and as soon as Halloween finally gets here, you blink and it’s Christmas.   There is no breathing room to take in the all special moments.   And the older Zoe has gotten, the more important those special moments truly are.   We want to make these memories as beautiful as possible.   But how do you fit it all in?   And more importantly, how do you stay focused on the magic instead of all the stress?   Traffic, crowds, holiday parties, shopping for the perfect gifts, decorating, cooking, cleaning… the list goes on and on.   Sure, some of these are fun commitments, but they are also stress.   We get this vision in our head of how it is supposed to be, that perfect tree, the perfect Christmas morning – but it is an unrealistic expectation to have.   Perfect isn’t possible.   But what is possi...