“You know I’m proud of you, right?” My brother said that to me once. We were standing in the driveway after a family dinner, both of us about to get into our separate cars and drive back to our separate lives. He said it quickly, almost as an afterthought. Like he had been carrying it … Read more
The average person has fifty-two birthdays with their mother. Fifty-two. That is the number you get if your mother lives to a typical age and you were born when she was in her twenties. Some people get more. Some people get far fewer. Some people are reading this with a mother who is unwell and … Read more
How well do you actually know the people you wish happy birthday? Think about your phone contacts. Think about everyone who will have a birthday in the next thirty days. Some of them you know completely — their fears, their habits, the specific way they laugh when something is genuinely funny versus politely funny. Others … Read more