Blog Category: Gratitude

Disasters Will Always Be Trending: Ask These 3 Questions

It was exactly midnight, so (as Mercedes told me to do) I smashed the coconut in the middle of the West Side Highway. Things are going to get better, I thought, when…

It was exactly midnight, so (as Mercedes told me to do) I smashed the coconut in the middle of the West Side Highway. Things are going to get better, I thought, when I saw the coconut all over the highway. It was March 2002. My second baby was born the night before. On 9/11, I […]

Read MoreComment

Every Decision Is a Fear Decision or a Growth Decision

My dad became a broken man. His business zeroed out, his life savings were gone, he stopped sleeping. When nothing else worked, he went on lithium to stabilize the depression. He cried…

My dad became a broken man. His business zeroed out, his life savings were gone, he stopped sleeping. When nothing else worked, he went on lithium to stabilize the depression. He cried in super markets, at parent teacher conferences, in front of me. He wanted me to come home for Thanksgiving. It was my final […]

Read MoreComment

The Thanksgiving When I Lied to Thousands of People

The first Thanksgiving that I spent alone was right after I separated from my wife. By the end of that day I experienced: fear, loneliness, lying to thousands of people, and enjoying…

The first Thanksgiving that I spent alone was right after I separated from my wife. By the end of that day I experienced: fear, loneliness, lying to thousands of people, and enjoying it. I woke up and I imagined my kids saying, “Is Daddy going to be with us?” They were tiny still. They didn’t […]

Read MoreComment

Person, Places, or Things?

My friend wanted to be a famous artist. But she said, “I can do it in Paris. I feel that will inspire me.” She had unopened paintbrushes in her apartment. Waiting to…

My friend wanted to be a famous artist. But she said, “I can do it in Paris. I feel that will inspire me.” She had unopened paintbrushes in her apartment. Waiting to be packed.  Twenty years later, she’s a computer programmer at an accounting firm in California. Another friend of mine is divorced and thinks […]

Read MoreComment

50 Things I Did Before I Turned 50

1. Got depressed because my dad went broke, lost our home, and went insane. He’d cry all the time, ask me, “What’s wrong with me?” and listen to music until he died.…

1. Got depressed because my dad went broke, lost our home, and went insane. He’d cry all the time, ask me, “What’s wrong with me?” and listen to music until he died. 2. Got depressed because the first 10 girls I asked out didn’t like me and said no. Two actually ran away before I […]

Read MoreComment

Don’t: The B.S. of the American Religion

I lost a friend. I didn’t tell her I got married. I didn’t tell anyone. I eloped. Later, I told people.  She wrote me, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.” And…

I lost a friend. I didn’t tell her I got married. I didn’t tell anyone. I eloped. Later, I told people.  She wrote me, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.” And she stopped talking to me. It’s a cliche to say, “Then she wasn’t really your friend.” That’s not true. I thought she was […]

Read MoreComment

What Is the Correct Way to Live Your Life?

Is it bad I wanted to have sex with my real estate agent? It was 1999. I had a ton of money for the first time in my life and I wanted…

Is it bad I wanted to have sex with my real estate agent? It was 1999. I had a ton of money for the first time in my life and I wanted to buy an amazing apartment. Just a year earlier, I had $0. I had college debt. But I was happy with zero. Every […]

Read MoreComment