The jar of roasted red peppers slipped from my hands and shattered on the grocery store floor around my sandaled feet. In my rush to get through checkout before the toddler melted down and back home for the baby’s nap, I clumsily dropped the jar onto the tiles. “No!” yelled my three-year-old, who shares my…
This summer was rough for my family. We gathered up all of our belongings and moved to a new province, leaving our friends, our communities, and the ocean air behind us. Not surprisingly, our children are extra emotional, and, if I’m being truthful, my spouse and I are also more emotional than usual. As much…
As daylight dwindled, I sat alone. The crickets chirped their lullaby. The campfire flickered gently. I savoured the peaceful evening and happily pondered the lively afternoon spent with our daughter Stephanie and her girls (ages 9, 7 and 5). September in Ontario had started off with a late summer heatwave and our grandkids enthusiastically churned…
“What do you want to brag about today?” This is the first question Dr. Peter Rosenbaum, a beloved doctor with McMaster University’s CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, likes to ask his patients when they visit. The power of perspective Mindset plays a significant role in how a family or patient manages their daily life…
Most of the travellers on the road walked faster than we did. Most were young and in a rush to get to Santiago de Compostela in time for Easter. We were a family of five and kept pace with each other. The cathedral wasn’t going anywhere. And Easter would happen wherever we were. When I…
Born in Jackson, Michigan, to Frances Marie Hyder and Eino Korpinen, my mother had a difficult upbringing. Her father left the family when she was quite small. When Marie remarried a few years later, my mother had to endure an abusive alcoholic stepfather. It was not a promising start. But few have exhibited the grace…
I have a collection of over 30 neckties hanging on a rack in my bedroom closet. In the past year, I think I have worn a tie once. Given this infrequent use, why do I have so many ties? Let me begin with a bit of history. The use of the necktie originated in the…
Dear Mom, It’s been so long since we’ve talked. I never had the chance to say goodbye. We all expected you to come home from the hospital the next day. But that changed. Forever. I think of you often. I have a lifetime of good memories. When I got engaged to Jack one of the…
Angela, Editor of CC, wrote this as a companion piece to her editorial in March. Did you ever wonder if your mom really had eyes in the back of her head? If so, you’re not alone. Ripley’s Believe it or Not asked 1,000 kids between six and eight years old if they thought their parents…
“Wait ‘til your father gets home!” How many times did my miscreant behaviour provoke those words from my mother’s lips? Make no mistake – Ma had a penchant for law and order and she was quite capable of meting out immediate discipline. But this was her trump card for especially exasperating infractions. Did she realize…
It was a slippery patch of white, that driveway, and soon I found my all-season tires stuck in snow. I was late already for the girls’ tap lessons, all three of them strapped into the backseat, and now this. Now I would need to admit to my in-laws that I couldn’t back up straight out…
It was a day when Janneke was home from school, and from my office, I could hear her giggling in her room. I had positioned her in bed while I worked on some emails. I set up a playlist from well-known Canadian storyteller Robert Munsch on the iPad. That morning, his expressive voice and playful audio…
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