Holding Out Hope

, ,
Most parents aren't professional child-rearing experts with advanced degrees in child psychology. Parents are just people. And just when you think parenting can’t get any more difficult or confusing, it does.

Our V-C Day will come soon

,
On March 2, just a few innocent weeks ago, I traveled to New Orleans with my son, Sam, a freshman at the University of Tennessee at Martin. It was his Spring Break, so we decided to take advantage of low airline prices (possibly due to some…

What the movie "Unbroken" meant for me

,
My fascination with Louie Zamperini has finally come full circle.  I went to the movie "Unbroken" last night. I'm not going to revisit the details of my personal interaction with the WWII hero here, but the nutshell is that I met and…

The Great Zamperini and me

,
If you've followed me for a while, you've probably seen me mention Louis "Louie" Zamperini, the WWII hero and subject of the new movie, "Unbroken," directed by Angelina Jolie. Like millions of other people, I was captivated by Laura Hillenbrand's…

The Top 10 Christmas Shows, period, the end.

, , , ,
If you're like me, you don't need any help deciding which Christmas shows to watch.  You know what you like and what you don't. So why would you come here to read my "Top 10 Christmas Shows, period, the end"?  Easy.  So you can either…

First 'Unbroken' trailer has me FREAKED OUT, period.

,
This is more of a heads-up than a real blog.   In perusing Facebook as a defense mechanism to "The Bachelor," to which my wife and daughter are hopelessly addicted and currently watching on DVR, I just ran across this, the first trailer…

Coffee karma

,
In my Dec. 18 blog, "What to do about it," I offered several simple ways for us to get our minds off the Sandy Hook tragedy, like purchasing coffee for the person behind you in a Starbuck's drive-thru.  Holly and I did this several times…

What to do about it

,
Since Friday (Dec. 14, 2012), it's been the elephant in the room of our minds. It won't go away.  It's too horrible to look at directly, and it's too big to ignore.  It is an foul, obnoxious, unwelcome houseguest that is draining the…

Consider the Chandlers

, ,
Today is Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving — but despite the mad rush on shopping and advertising, I'm not ready to move on to Christmas just yet. I posted something silly yesterday, but not today.  This is something hopeful.…

The Whip-poor-will Story

,
The year was 1981, and I was 15 years old.  My dad and I had spent the day working on our Christmas tree farm at the base of Booger Mountain (in Taylorsville, N.C.) with two other hired hands — Randy and Jeff — who were both around…