Which doesn’t stay empty for long — Note: This piece was written for my sister-in-law, who will soon face her first experience as an empty nester. In our most recent conversation, her reflections and tender emotions took me back to my experience, which I share below. Maybe it will help frame other parents’ anticipation of a kind…

Charles Dickens and Colleen Hoover tell me all I need to know — At the ripe middle age of 65, I can see my sensibilities changing in all kinds of ways. I start my day earlier but don’t jump out of bed. I check each limb first. There was a time when my day started later than I wanted (and hours later than…

And the need to give people a second chance — I doubt I’m the only one who grew up hearing, “Make sure you make a good first impression.” At the time, I probably wondered whether that was my parents just being persnickety. It turns out they were right. This realization occurred when I reconsidered my take on a person I…

Look within our corners if you want to understand more — I had two grandmothers, as different as night and day. One I called “Bubbie.” She came to the States from Eastern Europe in 1907. She was 17 when she landed at Ellis Island and took a train straight to Denver, Colorado, where a marriage had been pre-arranged with her distant…

It’s not exactly Meyer Briggs, but it works for me — I know that I am not a psychologist, behavioral theorist, veterinarian, or anything else that qualifies me to write this post. And yet… I’ve been a dog owner for 17 years, and I’ve recently wished that my dog, “Teddy,” could use words and tell me the problem. Alas, he can’t…

I ate mine, but I saved the other for you — Mr. Williams, I read with sadness your note that you couldn’t resist eating the plum in the ice box. You said it was so sweet and so cold. You seemed to feel a little guilty because you thought it was to be saved for breakfast. Because I try to learn…

Some things just don’t make sense — Here are just a few questions I would ask if I were a child celebrating Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. The parent could be any of us :) Child: If we are praying for a sweet year, isn’t chocolate better? And if you want to make it something that…

Reframing can make all the difference — My brother is a Rabbi, and he has given countless sermons — almost all of them excellent, says his sister. But one sermon stands out. He describes his baskets of clean laundry that need folding. “Instead of saying, ‘I’ve got to fold laundry,’ try saying, ‘I get to fold laundry.’…

New beginnings, falling leaves, and a spiritual awakening — Shortly after Labor Day, we get to greet our favorite season. Yes, after putting away our summer whites and shopping for school supplies, we prepare ourselves for fall, which 41% of Americans say they love most, followed by spring and summer, which tie at 24%. It’s fairly predictable that winter…