Ever since I wrote my first philosophy of life – “Always Follow a Schmuck” – dozens have asked me if I would continue because the first was so helpful. Actually, no one has asked, but it seemed like a cheap and easy opening for the topic of “What I have learned being a dorm dad to eighth grade boys”:
We had a progressive dinner for the eighth grade class.
My first philosophy of life is this: If you live in a house...
The paralegal told us to show up promptly at 9am to court. We had heard horror stories of how long this could take, so we drove two hours to the court with food, drinks, magazines and a nervous feeling.
Our first surprise was that our paralegal had become our lawyer. It was such a long process that our paralegal graduated from law school and became our attorney. We didn’t know this until that morning.
We also didn’t know that she had only...
Nancy went to the woman’s retreat this weekend, and so it was the older boys and I managing the care of the Dynamic Duo. It is so interesting how twins look at life differently. When we read Lyle the Crocodile, Ben points out every red car in the story. Katie shows me all the shoes that the characters wear.
This takes on huge significance, because Katie carries shoes around with her all the time, and they end up in interesting places....
Urban legend on the RVA campus is that whenever the milk goes south, they announce a special treat and give the children chocolate milk to mask the south-ness. I don’t know if it is true, but it is as prevalent as the man with the hook in these parts.
Because of the attack on a boarding school similar to RVA in Pakistan, we are considered a “soft” target and have begun lots of drills in case of attack. We are in...
There are always interesting parts of living in a dorm, but perhaps the most highly anticipated is Korean food day, or as it is always referred to, “delicious Korean food day.” All of the Korean parents come to campus and cook tremendous amounts of Korean food.
Before I go on, let me point out that I really like Korean food. When Nancy went back to the States last summer and asked what I wanted brought back, the first thing I thought...
You change when you have been out here for a while. We had a monkey come into our house last week, and while it was a thrill (and more of a thrill that he didn’t hang around, because monkeys celebrate coming into homes by pooping in them), I see them quite often and wasn’t totally shocked.
But this is the big one. I didn’t know that the Super Bowl was last weekend. What kind of American can I be if I...
Eighth grades guys can go from awkward to slick in moments. One of our dorm boys, fearing that we would tease him, would ask if he could call his sister. We would say yes, and he would call her and ask, “Can I have all your money?” She would hang up, and then he would call the eighth grade girl he really wanted to talk to.
We have short devotions in the dorm Monday through Thursday, and because they get really...
Kenya has changed its laws, and to adopt, the courts appoint a guardian from the Kenyan Child Welfare Society to oversee how you raise the children. She was scheduled to come to our home, but at the last moment she asked us to come to her office. For those of you old enough to remember the old Batman show, her office looked like an abandoned factory now used for nefarious means by criminal masterminds. It was scary to go inside,...
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