Scenario A A 20-something young woman stands at the top of a 50-foot cliff that gradually descends into a choppy lake below. Half of her friends are yelling at her not to do it. The other half, encouraging her. They all know she’s a strong swimmer. She backs away from the edge…

My wife works as a health coach. She became interested in taking control of her health after a cancer diagnosis, surgery, and treatment. She’s an amazingly disciplined person. When she puts her mind to something she is 100% committed to it. This will sound odd, but it was hard for…

I walked slowly across the front lawn of my parents’ home holding my wife’s hand. For an August afternoon, the temperature was a bit cooler than usual. Our kids, in age order (coincidentally), made their way into the house ahead of us. …

I’ve experienced three significant personal traumas in my life. I’ve written about all three before, so I’ll summarize: In 1988, when I was 9, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. A few days before I turned 15, she lost that battle. That was 30 years ago. In 2012, I…

On a Saturday afternoon, I sat next to my maternal grandmother near the oval-shaped table in the kitchen of their small home. My mother grew up there with her parents and her three siblings. Some years early, Grandma Dee (Delores) had suffered something like a stroke that confined her to…

It’s 4:00 am again. I rarely need an alarm to wake me at that hour anymore. 4 or 5 hours of sleep is never enough, but I’m awake. With my headlamp fully charged and snug around my skull, I enjoy a run at that unholy hour a few times a…

Henry sat next to Spencer for a long time, neither one of them saying much to each other. The two had been friends for decades. After a while, Henry stood, took his friend’s hand lightly in his own, and walked away without a word. Henry quipped to his son who…

MapQuest was a technological marvel. In the early days of the internet you would. . . Visit mapquest.com, Enter your departure address, Enter your destination address, Print the turn-by-turn instructions produced by the system, Take your printed directions and find your way to your destination following the directions. Remarkable as…

‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ was one of three key messages created by Britain’s wartime propaganda department, the Ministry of Information, during the second World War. …