by Michael Holland - Her name is Rita Solomon. Well, I guess I’m supposed to say her name was Rita. Rita and I dated in college for about a year. We had great times together, we were young, and for a while we were even in love. We broke up in March of 1981. On [...]
by Michael Holland - As our kids hit momentous milestones in life, we often reflect on how fast they are growing up. They pass these milestones- your preschooler “graduating” at the end of the year; your middle school daughter going to the school dance; your 17-year-old son driving off for his first solo drive after [...]
by Michael Holland During a summer evening on the Magothy River, one of the large rivers feeding the famous Chesapeake Bay, I witnessed a beautiful sailing race: 40 or 50 sailboats tacked back and forth along the river, each one maneuvering to catch the wind perfectly and take advantage of a competitor. From far away [...]
By Michael Holland There are times as a father when I believe I'm being very open and un-controlling. I express my concerns or thoughts and then leave it up to my kids to make the decisions they think best for themselves. But there are subtle ways that we still control our kids, even if [...]
by Michael Holland By the time my oldest son was a sophomore in college, he had been asked the question "what's your major" at least 1,000 times. This question started to come up in middle school: casually at first, both at school and with us, his ever-concerned parents. Steady progression of the question continued [...]
By Michael Holland There’s the old coach, sitting on the top row of the bleachers watching the game. He smiles slightly, watching the players move gracefully across the field. He admires the intensity of the coaches as they offer quiet encouragement or bark out directives. He remembers his early days on the sideline, and [...]
by Michael Holland In our fast-track worlds, we all develop a priority system that helps us to make sure we are accomplishing as much as humanly possible. The reality is that we’re actually over-committed most of the time, which results in us stealing a bit of time from here and a bit of [...]
by Michael Holland "Why is it so hard for my friend who's Catholic to understand I'm a Follower of Jesus Christ?" What a great question my then son brought to us late one night. I love these fathering moments: the ones when you are put on the spot to answer for a 15-year-old a question [...]
By Michael Holland We fathers work hard to provide for our families. We work to instill core beliefs in our kids that will ideally guide them to develop critical thinking skills. So when my 17-year-old daughter came to me one night and asked for a favor, I was a bit surprised: she wanted to [...]
by Michael Holland As fathers, we race through our days, slaying the beasts in the wilderness to create a safe home at night. Sometimes we're so busy protecting our kids that we forget to take the time to actually see how they engage with the environment surrounding them. More importantly, we sometimes forget to watch [...]
