It always seems to be either too much or not enough — I am Catholic, and I like being Catholic. That said, I am well aware that the Catholic Church has problems. Many, many problems. This is not an article about those problems (although maybe it is, indirectly). This article is about watching my husband and my sons, my brothers and brothers-in-law…

I love her, but hope not to follow the same trajectory — Somewhere in my forties I figured out, “Oh — your strengths are also your weaknesses. I get it now!” I should have figured this out sooner, as I had a front-row seat to one of history’s all-time strengths v. weaknesses one-man shows in the person of my Mom. For a…

I didn’t catch on to this for way, way too long — Here’s a horrifyingly embarrassing story from my high-school years, just for you. When I was in ninth grade, I took an American Studies class that the love of my life (assuming my “life” at that point was comprised entirely of my 7th and 8th grade years) also took. At one…

Please stop acting as if it will save any of us — About a year ago I first started becoming aware of a popular type of financial news article that spouted the theory that members of the Millennial generation didn’t need to worry about money, because soon their Baby Boomer parents would start dying and the “biggest wealth transfer” in history would…

They’re the least fun tours you’ll ever take, but maybe the most important — There is no shortage of information out there about “how to choose an assisted living facility” or “what to look for in assisted living.” Search on those terms and Google will return roughly one zillion hits. But there’s what the Internet says — which consists primarily of assisted living and…

At Thanksgiving, the White House is where all turkeys want to be — One of Thanksgiving’s most lighthearted traditions is the presidential pardoning of one lucky turkey. But fans of this classic Thanksgiving custom might be surprised to learn it originated long before the television and PR-friendly events that we recognize today. The history of a turkey being spared in the White House…

Let’s all adjust our expectations just a bit, shall we? — My mother-in-law is a wonderful person. Really. She’s an intelligent, kind, hardworking woman who raised one of my favorite people in the world. She’s made do, cheerfully, all her life, even though she and my father-in-law often struggled with health problems and never made enough money for the very hard…

Move fast and burn things — Spoiler alert: Please don’t read this article if still want to watch the Game of Thrones series and don’t know how it ends. I don’t know how anyone could possibly have avoided this knowledge, but if you have, I want to respect that. We all know that if Game of…

The day after Halloween seems like an appropriate time for this announcement — I just had my first “annual” physical exam in about ten years, and was not surprised to learn that I’m the fattest I’ve ever been. For most of my life, I’ve hung out in the “average” weight category. I’m not tall, but I’ve also never been classified as overweight or…