Opinion

Last week, my mom and I made the drive to Columbia so I could accept the William E. James Outstanding Young Journalist Award at the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest awards ceremony.

Lately, I have found myself paying more attention not only to what people say when they are challenged, but also the way they choose to defend themselves. It comes up everywhere, from disagreements between friends to online conversations and workplace situations.

A couple of adoption cases I heard about recently got me thinking about the topic of adoption as it relates to our faith.

The first hint of fall can make everything feel a little different. The mornings become cooler, the sunlight changes and, before long, the leaves begin turning shades of red, orange and gold. Kitchens smell like cinnamon, baking bread and soup simmering on the stove.

Recently, I was in the hospital getting prepped for a heart procedure. After a stroke in September, they found a hole in my heart that had probably caused it and needed repair. With IVs, needles and cuffs being put on me in preparation, the nurse turned to me and said, “Your wife wasn’t kidding.

One of the hardest parts of growing up isn’t paying bills, balancing a career or learning how quickly life changes. It’s realizing no matter how hard you try, someone is always going to walk away unhappy. As children, we are taught working hard matters.

Every Fourth of July, there is one tradition I look forward to more than just about anything else. For years, my daughter and I have packed up each Fourth of July and headed to my dad’s condo at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Watching a child try something new for the first time is exciting until it isn’t. That realization came while sitting in the bleachers at my daughter Aurora’s first cheer clinic.

Somewhere along Highway 10, a horse named Olivia and a donkey named Newton are living perfectly normal lives, completely unaware that they have become celebrities to one little girl. At least, that is what my daughter says their names are.

Some guarantees in life are unavoidable: taxes will come regardless of preparedness, Missouri weather will unpredictably include all four seasons within a week and if anything goes wrong in my life, my mother will probably blame it on energy drinks.