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A few weeks ago, I was thinking about girls’ high school athletics. That, and women’s collegiate sports, have been in the news as of late. As I mused about the […]

Last week’s column was about a trek through the Ridge Nature Preserve with our two granddaughters and Yours Truly that resulted in a surprising ending with Mr. Horsefly. Sometimes the

QUESTION: We have a 3.5-year-old and each night we have a routine that we go through with her—bath, pajamas, brush, choose two books and read them, sing a couple of

It was on a sunny October Saturday afternoon. There in the cafe of Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame, I dined with my dear friend and mentor, Don Light. He

Sometime late in the evening, the fireworks of July 4, set off by various neighbors, subsided. It had been an exceptionally good day for our family. Some were scattered, of

Orange is not red. The two colors are different, but both are equally important to this story. My newly acquired inability to read trail maps correctly and one very pesky

Correlation does not prove cause, drummed my grad school statistics professor. For example, a rise in the rate of American children who regularly consume lox and a concurrent rise in

One day I walked into Tink’s home office where he usually sits in an overstuffed chair decorated in bold flowers of orange, yellow and green. His feet were slung out

The other night I was watching the program, “Life Below Zero: The First Alaskans,” a spin-off from the original, “Life Below Zero” reality show. While the original show had a

It’s a debate that has raged on since the dawn of time: which is better — male or female? Through the years, I’ve just accepted it’s the luck of the

QUESTION: Our 14-year-old daughter is a rising high school sophomore. We let her wear eyeliner this past year, but she is wearing entirely too much. She is well-adjusted (plays sports,

After a country supper in the days of my growing up, Mama would often stand up from the table and say, “Ronda, you clean up the kitchen. I need to

Had my father lived, he would have been 95 yesterday. However, in September 1996, after a valiant struggle against lung cancer that spread to the brain, he died at the

When the stories are all told, by anyone’s account, I shouldn’t still be here on this blue planet of ours. I should’ve never made it off that Jacksonville, Florida beach.

QUESTION: Our eight-year-old, the oldest of three, is often rude to his siblings. I know some sibling conflict is normal, but this seems excessive. I hear him multiple times per

There’s no disputing it. No doubting it. No denying it. The man, who was our family’s North Star, was raised in an isolated, backwoods shack where hope rarely appeared but

It was the first day of summer, in the upper nineties with high humidity, and Dad had come home early from work unexpectantly. It could only mean one thing; he

When I started college, I had no scholarships, no savings, no Pell Grant, no help from my parents … nothing. So, one morning I put on my suit and tie,

QUESTION: My husband and I have one child, age two. We’d like to have at least one more. What is the optimal spacing between children? ANSWER: Research puts ideal sibling