This past weekend we decided to pull the kids out of school for a day, forgo the multiple sports obligations and spend the weekend at a place we keep coming back to, Deep Creek, MD. It’s the place we return to again and again when we want a break from the stress of daily life. It’s only a two-hour drive, there are ample rental houses, and there’s a lake, mountains, and several beautiful state parks and forests within a 25-minute drive. Sometimes you just need to be surrounded

As I’m writing this, summer is officially coming to an end, school starts in two days, and my family is in that weird time between when summer camps end and school starts. It feels like the week between Christmas and New Year’s. What day is it? What time is it? What should we do? Nobody knows.

I love New Years resolutions.  While some people moan and groan at the “new year, new me” social media posts and flocks of newbies at the gym, I love setting goals and the wishful thinking that I’ll actually accomplish them. I’m still working on replacing my Diet Pepsi addiction with water . . . maybe someday. 

As a born-and-raised Pittsburgher, I never take summer for granted. I hate the winter—like, daydream-about-moving-to-California kind of hate. I’ve made more than a few empty threats to pack up and head somewhere with year-round sunshine and bougainvillea. But deep down, I know I’d miss the rhythm of the seasons—and the way summer here feels like a reward we’ve truly earned.

Back when Saturday Night Live started, there was a skit called “The Thing that Wouldn’t Leave.”

Can you believe that it’s been five years since the start of the COVID pandemic?

My youngest granddaughter when she was a year old was diagnosed with severe food allergies to eggs, tree nuts, and peanuts.

I’ve been keeping a diary since I was 11, and for the last few decades, at the beginning of new year, I like to sum up the departing one.

One of the first pieces I ever wrote and sold was a story about how when I was a kid, I would stay overnight at my Grandma Gert’s house.

When we come to this time of the year, it always seems appropriate to take stock of what happened over the past 12 months.

We know about my father-in-law, but we don’t know him. That is until recently. 

I was diagnosed this summer with celiac disease. And once again, I had no idea what my body was up to.

There are great family farms in our area like ours that work long and hard seven days a week growing fruits and vegetables to support our co

Several weeks ago, I was at a local discount store, and when I went to the bank of self-checkout terminals, I scanned my membership card, an

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A little over a year ago, I was in the Holy Land touring its historic and religious sites. After returning home, many were curious about the

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Having no children deprives the world of innocence, humor, innovation, and hope as well. Throughout the pandemic lockdowns, it was being aro