Other Writing

Op-Ed pieces for the Baltimore Sun focusing on parenting, family life issues, losses, and learnings.


Facing down fears, raising awareness

NINETEEN BROWNIES from Troop 4224 gathered at my feet. I had just rolled backward down a steep ramp that covered three steps while they sang, “New Friends,” as my welcome. As I spun around to meet the girls, they began one last exercise of shaking the wiggles out before they sat down “criss-cross applesauce” style. […]

Winning against whining

I HAD ALMOST had it. Midway into our seven-day, seven-person, multiple-family vacation, my 6-year-old niece, Ashley, found my last nerve and stepped on it. Last year, I had teased her about her high-pitched voice: “Ashley, you sound like you took a big gulp of helium.” But the year of maturity didn’t lower her pitch. And […]

Everybody wins with special ref

ALTHOUGH I HAD been watching games for weeks, that Friday night was the first time I could hear one. Perched on the hilltop sidewalk behind Jacksonville Elementary School in Phoenix, Md., I had watched my son’s lacrosse games with binoculars. To help me find him in the sea of Carroll Manor Recreational Council blue jerseys, […]