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25 Fly
Read more: 25 FlyBy 8:00 p.m. at the summer season’s first home meet, the stress is starting to wear on me. I’m running the timing system, which means I’m basically a one-man IT department responsible for verifying results and ensuring the meet runs on time. There are at least 300 people, probably closer to 400, crowded onto the…
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Easter: The R-Rated Holiday
Read more: Easter: The R-Rated HolidayEaster weekend 2025 was a lesson delivered by the children in what we ought to consider “inappropriate.” It started on Thursday, the last day of school before break, when I was invited into Cartter’s classroom as the “mystery reader” for the week. I’d thought that Cartter might not want me to participate in this potentially…
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Left Behind
Read more: Left BehindAs the final pair painstakingly made its way around the last holes late Sunday at the Masters, the empty fairways were a sad sight. Not long before, they glistened with dew in the morning sunlight; players strode down their centers after blistering drives; and patrons stood scattered around their edges admiring the spectacle. Then, there…
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Checkmate
Read more: CheckmateThis past weekend I found out that Cartter has been playing chess every Friday at school. “I always play for fun Friday,” he said. We were out to dinner after an afternoon at the park. When we got home, we played a game, and he beat me. I slowed him down twice before he could…
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Linus and Lucy
Read more: Linus and LucyI’m starting to wonder if our next dog will sing along the way our lab Sammy does while I play the piano. I imagine trying to play her song without her, and I think keeping it a duet would help. Some things are better with a friend. While I worry about becoming a solo act,…
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My Kid is a Shark
Read more: My Kid is a SharkLately I’ve found myself talking very excitedly about my son’s swimming, mostly to my wife, but also to his friend’s father, my physical therapist, my parents, my coaching colleagues . . . basically, anyone to whom my son’s nascent swimming career is even remotely relevant is aware of his budding talent. “He’s doing that already?”…
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Pool Rules: Force Teachers to Swim
Read more: Pool Rules: Force Teachers to SwimOver the years I’ve developed some rules for dealing with young kids at swim practice. One is, never ask a swimmer, “What are you doing?” The question is totally unproductive: it’s almost guaranteed to be uttered in anger and frustration, and the kid’s not going to have a good answer. Better to just go ahead…
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Nature’s Prozac
Read more: Nature’s ProzacSitting atop the roof at Folly Beach’s Catch 23, formerly Snapper Jack’s of bridal massacre fame, my college roommate Dan and I discussed the nature of unexpected joy, those fleeting moments in which the miraculousness of one’s existence is suddenly a palpable thing, when the light coming in the window or the thought of a…
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Snow Day
Read more: Snow DayIt was a Friday morning, and my day had gotten off to a late start. I stumbled still half-asleep into the living room, and the sound of Cartter’s heavy footsteps hustling from his bedroom in the back hallway roused me to alertness. “Scotty, guess what I found?” Scotty matched his older brother’s tone of enthusiasm…
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Killing Christmas
Read more: Killing ChristmasThe morning of the kids’ last day off from school over Christmas break, I was roused at six a.m. by a moaning sound that mixed with the whir of the box fan in Danyelle’s and my bedroom. It was so constant and steady that I thought the spinning blades must have randomly achieved some resonant…
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The Raging Elitist 