Opinion

Conversations with your adult children are so different than conversations with your young children. Although when my middle child calls, we are both typically involved in house-cleaning while talking, which is how typically some of the longest conversations used to take place when we lived in the same house, they’re now more involved with cleaning tips and trading stress baking war stories, rather than me getting to hear all the middle/high school drama.

It’s been cold. An engaged audience might ask: How cold was it? A type of punchline: It was so cold the ice was complaining about the temperature! The reality is more mundane. It was so cold they cancelled school. This has happened before. I grew up in Texas, a geography not known for cold temperatures. One winter day was so cold that they cancelled schools. They were concerned the HVAC wasn’t up to the job. No school administrator wants to take in warm bodied children and spit them out blue. It was 29 degrees Fahrenheit.

INT. SPORTS BAR - DAY

It’s about that time of year again where I convince myself that I can, indeed, grow a magnificent garden such as my grandma has always done There’s only been a couple of summers in my life where I actually accomplished this. Whether it be because the weather is challenging, or I don’t have a yard, or because I put in all the effort to plant everything and then became too busy to manage the plot of land that was clearly going to always be a challenge with weeds growing over because it was a first year till - there’s always been a struggle.

Last week, the first edition under the new format arrived on news stands and in mailboxes. As we work through the process of learning the new ropes, there are still a few things that we’re figuring out. So it may be that for one week, something that regularly is a part of our weekly newspaper won’t necessarily be included, as we become more accustomed to the placement and workings of the new design.

I don’t mean to brag or anything. I mean, really, I’m just a guy. I put my pants on one leg at a time. In many ways, I’m human—just like you.

Innocence is a gift. It’s fleeting. Innocence is more than the absence of knowledge; it is a kind of purity of the soul. And perhaps nowhere is that purity more obvious than in a child’s voice.

You might have noticed our website message that says “Become a Community Insider Business”, and you may have wondered what that means?

Before my six-year-old gets her grubby paws on Highlights Magazine, I give it the once-over because I don’t need to know more than everyone—just her. There’s a lot to unpack in every issue. My daughter, a chip off the old block, reads it for the jokes. (i.e. How do billboards talk? Answer: Sign Language.) Their investigative journalism uncovers profound mysteries. (i.e. Why are tennis balls yellow? Answer: TV) Personally, I turn to Highlights for the weather. This month’s cover: “Here Comes Summer.”