YOUR FAMILY Looking back over the past four years, I can’t pinpoint when or where the scale tipped. When my days became more “not-grieving” than grieving. It wasn’t like the changing of the seasons, knowing that by May the harshness of January would be long gone. There was no predictability. No schedule. No deadline. There […]
Bill Dodds: Never-ending parenting
YOUR FAMILY A dear friend recently became a grandma for the first time and now the baby is “already” a month old. How did that happen so quickly? In a couple of months, two of my three children will “already” be in their 40s. How did that happen so quickly? When I think back to […]
Bill Dodds: Valentine’s Day year-round
YOUR FAMILY I wasn’t surprised this year when the Valentine’s Day candy was on store shelves only days after the Christmas candy had been there. I suppose I could mutter tsk-tsk, but the truth is I’m part of the problem: a consumer who loves to consume chocolate. So just about any excuse to buy some […]
Bill Dodds: How to cope with holiday grief
YOUR FAMILY I was startled a few weeks ago when familiar feelings of grief surfaced. It was evening, mid-October, and there was a sadness I hadn’t felt for a while. The same thing happened the next night. This January, it will be four years since my wife, Monica, died of uterine cancer. It’s not an […]
Bill Dodds: Marriage advice that lasts
YOUR FAMILY In 2003, my wife and I had been married for 29 years when we wrote a column on marriage that offered tips for newlyweds. Remember, we wrote, that the sacrament is called “marriage,” not “wedding.” Also, continue to transform your wedding day promises into everyday compromises. Be fiscally prudent. Avoid being a […]
Bill Dodds: To former seminarians
YOUR FAMILY Soon after my grandson turned 11, I said to him, “Well, in three years you can move away from home.” He looked at me. “That’s what I did,” I said. He turned to his mom. “Really?” he asked since he knew his grandfather can be one who stretches the truth. “Really,” she said. […]
Bill Dodds: Shining a light on the goodness of others
YOUR FAMILY “You were so good at making pies!” my mother said to her childhood friend who was visiting our family. “I can’t make pies.” “Oh, pies are easy,” the other woman answered and her face lit up as she explained the secrets to a flaky crust. Both women were in their mid-70s and as […]
Bill Dodds | YOUR FAMILY: Why doesn’t Jesus pay my taxes?
It was a little more challenging filling out this year’s federal income tax forms. I had to include information on the Affordable Care Act (a boon for some of us who are self-employed). And for the first time since my wife, Monica, died in early 2013, I had to list myself as single, not married. […]
