As the great Tom Selleck’s character Peter observed in 3 Men and a Baby, it doesn’t matter what you say to a baby, “it’s the tone you use.” And so this is how to talk to the baby. Agreeing with her observations in cheerful, supportive voices. “Dog,” she might proclaim, sticking a tiny, damp finger up … Continue reading On Lying to Small Children
Category: Relationships
I Can’t Get It To Stop
Actual text conversation with my wife after I had clearly lost control of my phone...
The Q&A
Based on the Guardian series, here. When were you happiest? Any time when my wife and I were together, with nowhere specific to be, ideally with a hot drunk and the pug pack. Which living person do you most admire, and why? Elizabeth Warren. I believe she has a plan to really make a difference. … Continue reading The Q&A
Hug Me
Needy pillow needs to respect my boundaries.
On Tattoos
We are socialized by our childhoods, good or bad. That is to say, our ideas of normal are set up in our minds when we are sponges, absorbing language and norms and social expectations. If, every Sunday, your family goes into the woods to a small chapel and speaks in tongues with poisonous snakes around … Continue reading On Tattoos
On Being Cold
November 12, 2018, and Austin suddenly got very cold. I mean, not Arctic cold. Not even Edinburgh-at-Xmas cold. But for Austin, the cold is not a matter of absolute number; it’s more to do with the difficulty I seem to have in adapting to the change in temperature. So, not cold-cold…it’s more that it is … Continue reading On Being Cold
So Your Wife is Out of Town for a Week
Day 1 You’re up early to wave your wife off. You’ve carried her suitcase to the waiting Lyft, now back for a coffee and check of the work email. Modern tech means that you’re never really apart. At least not for very long. You can share the ride to the airport, the breakfast, and then … Continue reading So Your Wife is Out of Town for a Week
On Grief
When we lose someone we love, this is what happens. A bubble immediately envelopes us; we are insulated from the outside world, the shock of what has just happened bounces around the inside curves of our new world; the outside world echoes hollow and ever-more distant in the distance. We live inside that bubble…for minutes, … Continue reading On Grief
Jesus is not attached
Jesus. Not attached.
#Illinois2018 – On Road Trips
Americans see distances in a very different way to normal people… They just have so much more to work with. I know this is hardly a startling observation (Hey, have you noticed how big the US is?) but the truth of the cliché hit me hard as we traveled, my delightfully American wife and I, … Continue reading #Illinois2018 – On Road Trips
