Our dog, Cody, may be small in size, but he carries the demeanor of a big dog. He’s amiable, but he doesn’t tolerate rough handling. Last summer, Cody had a heated encounter with our neighbor’s dog, Chino. I’m unsure whether Cody or Chino started it, but they’ve been sworn enemies ever since. As a result, when we see Chino go for a walk, my neighbor or I have to cross the street to ensure the two dogs don’t get too...

I am inspired this week by a beautiful essay by Esau McCaulley in the New York Times on how “poverty is the great thief of time.” He shares how his mother worked the overnight shift at Chrysler, meaning that friends and family cared for him and his siblings. Her dedicated hard work brought success for her kids but at the cost of time spent with them. Even as McCauley found success as a writer and speaker, he still finds himself...

The first time I remember someone telling me to “RELAX!” was when I was 16. I broke my wrist playing quarterback in a sandlot football game. I completed the pass for the touchdown, but when I got up from being tackled, I noticed my wrist was unusually bent. We met the orthopedic surgeon at his office, where he told me that he could set my wrist there rather than at the hospital if I cooperated. He shot my wrist full...

We took a trip to Fallingwater this past weekend with our grandson, who was visiting. Fallingwater is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most iconic pieces of architecture. Built in 1935 for and with the Edgar Kaufman family of Pittsburgh, it is constructed over a waterfall with the sounds and visuals of Bear Run right below your feet. I remember watching a PBS special about the preservation and reconstruction of the famous cantilevers of the house. The cantilevers are rigid horizontal...

The woman was clearly in shock. Her home was destroyed by wildfire, and she and her family barely made it out to safety. “I’ve never seen this in the 25 years we’ve been here,” she told the journalist. A colleague who lives in the Northeast posted a video of his one-hundred-foot driveway underwater, proud that he could at least get out with his SUV. “We’ve been here 35 years, and this has never happened,” he told his community of friends....