When we were married, my husband and I moved into a house that had never been lived in before. No nicks in the woodwork, no carpet stains, no glow-in-the-dark constellations stuck to the ceiling. A blank slate for a new marriage. We marveled over its pristine condition, breathing in that new-house smell and sprawling across […]

Somewhere along the line, as college-admission rates plunged and smartphones proliferated, “busy” became code for “important.” We got the sense that doing more means doing better. We fed into the flattery, the idea that a busy person is in demand — qualified, experienced, needed, loved. The person with the fullest calendar wins. Even our social […]

Moving into a senior home can be the ultimate indignity. With the hefty monthly bill comes a hundred little losses — of the car keys, of the backyard, of all the familiar nooks and crannies: ticks on the pantry wall tracking the kids’ upward ascent; the Christmas-tree corner; the candy drawer; the cat’s favorite window […]

Father Dave Korth’s dad had been declining for five years. That was the slow, haunting grip of dementia. The stories Leonard loved to tell had started to unravel. Something was missing from the hardy Nebraska farmer, so his wife and seven children began to wrap him in a patchwork of goodbyes. His early-morning death one […]