6 Ways to Be Better Under It I wrote these words in a writer’s notebook when I was a high-strung, painfully sensitive 18-year-old: The only way to find happiness in your lifetime is by always trying to be the calm in the center of the storm. As it turns out, I somehow found happiness; more likely, it…

Letter to a Father with Alzheimer’s — Dad, So, I have this memory. You were there, too; but don’t worry if you don’t remember. I can remember for you. It’s a hot, breeze-less summer day in 1971, and Hatzic Lake is lukewarm and the color of milky coffee that’s been left on the counter all morning. Motorboats…

Here’s what happened when a sensitive, liberal, bookish musician asked for the hand of this man’s daughter — To understand my father-in-law, Weston, you need to see his man-cave. His wood-paneled basement den in Nanaimo, British Columbia is a cozy but somewhat cramped archive of the wildlife that Weston has, in his lifetime, either shot, fished or wrestled to the ground with his bare hands. Represented are: two…

Go Ahead and Laugh: Writing Letters Was Actually Pretty Radical — I miss writing letters. More truthfully, I don’t miss the cramp in my right hand. I don’t miss running out of space and having to jam run-on thoughts up the margins of the paper. I don’t miss how long it took to get a response to nagging questions, such as…