In June 2001, I wrote my first column for this paper. I started writing because I had become a parent and for the first time in my life I had become intimately acquainted with midnight barf-a-thons. There was also this strange, tiny person in the house who told me “no” all [...]

Growing up I always found it odd when I heard my friends and their parents say to each other, “I love you.” From the time I was born and through my teenage years, my mom never said those words to me. She didn’t have to. If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s [...]