To my darling nieces, You in your barely lived lives have taught me so many lessons about how to live mine. Here are the ways you have inspired me: You enjoy simple pleasures, like jumping crumbled waves in five inches of water, holding me next to you so I'll do the same. Over and over and over again. You love life vigorously, and you don't want to miss a moment of it. This love causes a fear of missing out, or FOMO, and it keeps you up at night. Literally.  You seek individuality. Like wearing different shoes on each foot, or outfits you created because you love the separate pieces, even though they don't match by any stretch of the imagination, and despite my best urging toward a nice-looking alternative.  You want to be active for no other reason than to enjoy the physicality of movement. Sometimes, in fact, you can't sit still. Can't do it.  You know what you want in life and you're not afraid to go after it. Even when it's a toy ...

Several months ago, my brother-in-law in Orlando called me and asked if I'd be available in December to watch his daughters, my two nieces E (three yrs.) and T (one yr.). He was planning a surprise trip to New York City for my sister, and he wanted to have childcare plans in place. The girls would stay with my mom, in Mount Dora, and I would help watch them. I agreed with enthusiasm, as I was excited to get to spend an extended amount of time with these two particular nieces, whom I usually only see for holidays and birthdays. Here is what I learned from the experience: Snot flows regularly from little children. Like a faucet that won't shut off. Sometimes, tears and drool flow along with the snot, usually onto an adult's shoulder/neck/chest/hand. And if you do manage to control the drainage up top, you'll inevitably have an overflow of stuff coming out the other end to deal with.  At one point before the weekend, I remember thinking that the care-taking shouldn'...

This past weekend was one of great joy peppered with moments of sadness. It was my birthday weekend, but it was also the weekend I had previously planned to be in D.C. to run the Marine Corps Marathon. While I'd somewhat made peace with the fact that I wouldn't be able to run the marathon, due to injury, I knew that the actual race day, the same as my birthday, would tug a bit at my heart strings. But I was lucky enough to stay occupied with birthday activities all weekend long, with only a couple of intermissions in which to take my quiet time to be alone and just feel sad. The weekend started off with birthday coffee with a friend at the Oxford Exchange . This is a new venue in Tampa, basically downtown, that houses a coffee shop, a tea shop, a bookstore, a home goods store, a restaurant, and rentable upstairs meeting space. The building is historic, located across from the University of Tampa campus. The coffee and tea vendors that occupy the building just happen t...