As the oldest of four children, there were two rare luxuries that I did not take for granted growing up: dining out and flying in planes.
Consequently, as an adult, I still tend to relish an opportunity for either of these experiences, even though they are often more quotidian than magical. But now that both restaurant meals and air travel have been eliminated from my life during the pandemic, I find myself dreaming of them just as I did as a child.
Read MoreAdmissions season for the upcoming school year has begun. I’m hearing from a few proactive, on-top-of-it people who are already looking at options for their children.
They’re asking questions about The Little Middle School, and it’s an interesting mix of past and future.
“Do you still have the same teachers you had two years ago when we first visited? Which teachers will you have next year?”
“What kind of diversity will you have?”
Read MoreThe art that people have made in quarantine is incredible.
Musicians are collaborating on complex multi-track recordings from afar — and sharing impromptu live concerts from their living rooms.
People are drawing and painting like crazy, setting up elaborate obstacle courses for their pets, and dancing up a storm.
Read MoreA generation of kids, used to marching from one highly structured activity to another, is learning the magic of being bored.
With virtually every after school activity canceled, they have so much free time that they have gotten their fill of Netflix and video games. They’re looking for something else.
Ray is building computers, piece by piece. Chloe is baking obsessively. Emma is gardening. Kate is learning audio recording techniques. Anna is coding. Rose is drawing for hours on end. Sam is building weird robots out of recycled components, and Daniel built a table out of wood and epoxy.
Read MoreAs I look over my misspent life — in those moments when it feels like I’ve had a misspent life — I can come up with a long list of things I wish I had done, and nagging regrets about the things I did.
Some of these things are impossible to do anything about (damn biological clock), but some of them are things I can begin to resolve today, if I would stop being so morose.
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