Category Archive

Cory Fawcett recently wrote a thoughtful, grounded post about his father-in-law’s death and the many logistical hurdles he and his family overcame. It’s a lot of work to bury someone with a tribute befitting a full life, especially when also attempting to honor requests from those closest to the deceased. One of the details Cory described struck a chord with …

A highlight of raising kids is that (based on my n of 2) they’ve turned out to be warped in precisely the ways I am when it comes to their sense of humor. It’s akin to living as an expatriate and improbably encountering someone who speaks your native language in an adopted country far from home. You feel understood in …

My poor word choice in a recent post about changing the beneficiary of a child’s overfunded 529 plan to an unborn grandchild regrettably created more confusion than it alleviated. To atone, here is a simplified summary and a couple of case studies illustrating how changing the beneficiary of a 529 incurs tax liability. Can you create an account for an …

[Every now and then bloggers with the best of aims write a post that confuses their readers. This is my public embarrassment. I’ve tried to clarify the points in a subsequent post you can find here. Please forgive me if I paved your road to confusion with my good intentions. I’ll let this post remain as a reminder of my …

My daughter recently entered the sixth grade, which in our district marks the the first year of intermediate school (a.k.a,  junior high). The transition was brusque. She graduated from a tender, loving elementary school where duckling students imprinted on gracious teachers they all hoped to someday emulate. Although there were occasional grumps and malcontents on the faculty, the overall experience …

We discuss money often in our family. Until recently, I thought this was an unqualified positive. When we returned from our summer travel to Washington, D.C. and Spain, the entire family reviewed the costs of all three weeks, pinpointing the areas of greatest expense (spoiler alert: the U.S. travel was much more pricey!). When we went out for ice cream …

I was recently reminded that art is more than a shared cultural obsession. Like many families, we have developed a shared admiration of the brilliant songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical, Hamilton. We’ve not seen it, but the score is sufficiently catchy and the lyrics are so deft and clever that it has captivated us in a  delight that knows no …

My parents are immigrants. Both learned English as a second language. This naturally leads to moments where a specific heartfelt sentiment takes an unexpected turn as the mental prose is converted from one language to another with an incomplete grasp of the subtleties of the non-native vocabulary. Dad studied electrical engineering but pursued a career in business. Consequently his technical …

A few weeks ago, my wife arranged a playdate for our son with a sweet kid in his grade who lives in our neighborhood. The kid’s father would pick them up by car after school to spend a couple of hours hanging out. Our son could barely contain himself when we gave him the news: “His dad drives a Tesla! …