It was the Ungame and this time the question was for Jon: “Describe your father in three words.” “Big nose,” he started out. The other two words, I somehow blocked out. Then I had to answer the same question about my own father. “Old. Tough. German.” Which is what Jon will be facing, someday. So, careful son. […]
Germany wins! But my face is still so (im)perfect Read More »
It’s Hannah’s turn now for a few days of Daddy Time and we’re up on a lake near Owen Sound, just my daughter and myself, swimming and gaming and doing plenty of things and then there is this moment. It’s last night and it’s something to remember because Hannah, who is just 8, wants to read from her new
Hannah and the Good Neighbour (Excerpt #2 – Forgiving our Fathers and Mothers) Read More »
We’re in the van on a long drive and we’re talking about being loved and just what on earth this means. Liz is only 11, but she’s there, she can talk about it and engage and we get on the topic of Mom, who we both love and who is also, if you didn’t know,
On being loved widely. And deeply. (And, oh yeah, receiving the Order of Canada.) Read More »
They don’t say it in schools in Ontario anymore, of course, but in the day, they did, we all did, day after day, year after year, right alongside the playing of God Save the Queen, the prayer that is The Prayer, the one that is called the Lord’s Prayer. By the time I finished my
I believe in you. I love you. I am here. Read More »
Some weeks ago I introduced this book, Forgiving our Fathers and Mothers, in this space, a book by Leslie Leyland Fields that is recently released. Leslie is a writing colleague I met during while studying in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Seattle Pacific University. Leslie knows first-hand the great importance
Forgiving our Fathers and Mothers – (Excerpt 1 – Silence) Read More »
It was Father’s Day Sunday morning and I was speaking to a local gathering about fatherhood and forgiveness. This was a surprise to even me because my own father was perfect. He doesn’t need forgiveness. As was his father, perfect. Never went wrong. Never had a selfish thought. No, not once. And his father too. Always
It’s a privilege to be a (perfect?) father Read More »
So Jon wants to watch “The Funny Guy” before bed last night, that is Funny Guy Rick Mercer, and we find a clip online of Rick getting some fashion advice from Don Cherry and before it’s all over, RM has a new Cherry-like zebra suit. Jon laughs and I put him to bed and stroke
Why are so many young men flaming out? Too much gaming and internet porn. Read More »
(The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, June 14, 2014)
HAMILTON, CANADA ✦ The sad truth is that the world is full of Charlie Gray sort of people who have listened to all the wrong voices and spent entire swaths of the only life they have doing things that haven’t mattered to them in the least, and, in the grand scheme of things, have mattered little to others also.
They’re people like in John Marquand’s novel “Point of No Return,” where Charlie Gray, after years of apple-polishing, is finally named vice-president of that fancy little New York bank, the promotion that finally gives him and his family the security they need.
It’s a privilege to be a father Read More »
