One summer I attended a high school debate camp to refine my public speaking skills. It was an intensive week of lectures, research, writing, and many practice runs—all culminating in a presentation for our parents on the final afternoon. The best students were selected by the faculty to debate the topic, which was welfare programs for the poor—ironically, the same thing we’re still debating today. I hadn’t been selected to debate, and I was privately ecstatic. I knew I wasn’

Here's my fifty-year old high school graduation photo. Now, a half-century later, another group of graduates will be receiving their diplomas, I know they've answered their share of questions. But there’s an important question my history teacher asked me during my junior year of high school, and maybe it’s a question new graduates should ask too. It had been a difficult season in my life, and I felt I had plenty to complain about. My history teacher, Mr. Wentz, wasn't having

Living four hundred miles from our elderly mom is hard. We never see her as often as we'd like. Phone calls help, but we've realized that more trips are needed. Every mile is worth it. On our latest visit, my daughter and her family came too. We arrived close to bedtime, but love doesn't keep a schedule. It didn't really matter what time it was. A few weeks earlier, my son stopped by while traveling for work. Business could wait. Family couldn't. That's the interesting thing

Facebook’s photo filters are so kind, especially at my age. As a Boomer, I embraced Facebook as an easy way to reconnect with childhood friends. It was like a high school reunion that didn’t have to end. We got to know each other all over again. Just a week ago, a friend and I got together—and get this—we hadn’t seen each other in fifty years. Facebook reconnected us, and now that we are both retired, we finally have the time to really catch up. Over lunch, we shared our stor