Local and syndicated columnists from the Traverse City Record-Eagle, northern Michigan's daily newspaper.
Ask Evelyn: Young adults need limits
Q: Our daughter will be 20 this month, lives at home and attends a community college full time. She has her own room. She has her boyfriend over from time to time and when they are in her room, they keep the door open and just sit on the bed and watch TV. One day my wife came home and found them under the covers watching a movie.....more>>
I spend a good portion of the holiday season (and ready or not, we're in it now!) trying to avoid crowds. Although it seems a contradiction, I eagerly anticipate Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and everything in between for most of the year. Just not the crowds.
Berlin is a defining part of my life, something I realized last week as I watched the jubilant celebration at Brandenburg Gate. This city has drawn me to it 10 times since childhood. Part of it is a family connection. In recent years, it is increasingly the city itself. I've come to love it for its spirit, diversity, courage and its willingness to be honest and make visible its past.
On Friday evening and Saturday we took advantage of the warm weather by raking up a lot of leaves in our yard. We have around 14 big trees in our front yard so the falling leaves add up fast.
As a kid, we never went on vacations to Florida or anywhere very far away. Aside from a week each summer at our family cottage on Lake Michigan, yearly deer and trout season expeditions to the Manton area were our get-aways. Those were the days.
The "Give It Away Now" food drive, spearheaded by the Life Teen Underground Youth Group, provided an opportunity for two local parishes to work together as one Catholic family to feed the hungry in the community. (Plus more good news from around the region.)
I noticed stuff -- little things, really -- during our early October New York adventure that are worth mentioning. Jenny and I had flown there when she was 10, to learn French. I'd noticed her aptitude for picking up languages, and felt the time was right.
The wind is blowing from the right direction this morning. I sit with my back against a white oak tree and watch as first light begins to show on the horizon. It is a cold, damp and a cloud-covered November morning.
I've learned that in every group, including people with disabilities, there are cliques, agendas and stratifications. If we're on the inside of a group, we see these subgroups clearly. If we're on the outside looking in, we often don't.
Q: My son goes from one thing to another without cleaning up after himself. I frequently have to remind him to clean up something, throw something away, put something away, turn something off or close something. I'm tired of nagging. How can I help him change and reduce my frustration?