After a six hour drive from our home near Toronto to Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, my dad let me out of the car. This was the beginning of a significant new chapter in my life—I was leaving home and going to college! After a few hugs and “go-get-em’s,” I headed off to my [...]
Along with the rest of my siblings, I took piano lessons growing up. My mom is an accomplished musician and she wanted to be sure that her children carried on this gene. I was the only one of my four siblings who actually crossed the plateau from despising these lessons to actually (secretly) enjoying learning [...]
There are multiple trees in my back yard. Each of them has a story: 1. MAPLE TREE The beautiful maple tree—an Autumn Blaze that sits squarely at the mid-point of our back yard property line allowing for site-lines from all of our backyard windows. My parents gave me this tree for my birthday 12 years ago [...]
Recently, I was talking to my parents about being their child. Now raising my own kids, we were making special note of how much the world has changed in terms of how we parent, and what parameters we operate with as parents. Even during the parenting of our own children (especially if our children span many [...]
Apparently the tradition started about 15 years ago. A dad of a kindergarten student decided to call around to other dads in the class to encourage them to make arrangements and “give their wives a day off.” To the surprise of the kindergarten teachers at the time, there were more dads than moms on this [...]
I admit it…I’m a late adopter. I am careful in approach and rarely jump into anything new without appropriately assessing all options. Then I weigh them, and observe the early adopters to be sure I don’t experience the same pitfalls they will inevitably find themselves in. And although I consider myself a digital native, I [...]
I still remember his name – Ivan – and every time he looked at me, he seemed to look straight into my soul. He was maybe 5 years old, loved playing soccer, quiet and reserved. He wanted to hang out with me and be my friend. Even though he was dirty, his clothes hadn’t been [...]
At 7:50 am, I hug my son and daughter and bid them farewell. I watch them walk down the street and head towards our school. I close the door, breathe deep, and smile. Yes, my kids walk to ACS every day. Saving Time or Sanity? In actuality, if I drove them, it would take me twice [...]
It has literally been 20 years since I coached soccer. So when Koenraad Beugelink texted me about helping him coach our Knights boys team, it took me a minute (or two) before responding. But given the fact that I have two boys on the team, and the fact that in of all the things I’ve [...]
