My children started a new school in a new community this fall. On the first day of classes, climbing on the bus with all their Number Two pencils and three-ring binders, they also carried with them enough anxiety to fill a mama’s boy’s backpack. It wasn’t just the reality of a new school that put them on edge; it was middle school, and that is scary enough all on its own. For the record, I wouldn’t go back and repeat those few years of middle school (we called it “junior …

A man went to his rabbi and complained, “There are ten of us living in one room. Life is unbearable! What can I do?” The rabbi answered, “Go home and take your goat into the room with you.”  The man was incredulous; but the rabbi was insistent. “Do as I say. Come back in a week.”
A week later the man returned looking even more distraught than before. ”Rabbi, please, we cannot stand it. The goat is so filthy!” The rabbi then told him, “Very well, go home and let the goat out. …

I love puzzles. Crosswords, brainteasers, and search-a-words to be sure, but nothing beats an old fashioned jigsaw puzzle with about gazillion pieces spilling out of the box. Right now there is a monster-sized puzzle strewn across our family’s dining room table. I have been persistently working on it for so long that I can’t remember the last evening we ate dinner at the table. My family has learned not to monkey around with me while I am hip-deep in puzzle solving. Yes, assist me – I’ll take all that I …

More than a century ago Leo Tolstoy wrote about a greedy farmer in his tale, “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” This farmer was discontent with his life because he never seemed to have enough. He moved town to town looking for greener pastures and greater opportunity. On his journeys he heard rumors of a far-away place where a distant tribe possessed more land than anyone could walk over in a year; and it was all there for the taking. He went to investigate and found the rumors to …