by ryanc | Dec 25, 2017 | Childhood, Dear Old Dad, Fatherhood, Games
Last night, we heard the clippity-clopping of Morse code on the rooftops, which could only mean one thing: Puzzle Claus was making his rounds again, delivering presents to the world’s cleverest boys and girls. Feedback from last year’s inaugural visit from...
by ryanc | Dec 31, 2016 | Childhood, Dear Old Dad, Fatherhood, Games, Memories
i created a little puzzle hunt for my two girls (ages 8 and 10) to complete on Christmas morning, before opening their big gangbusters mom-and-dad-spent-too-much-money presents. i spent a few evenings stealing artwork from the internet and putting together five...
by ryanc | Sep 22, 2014 | Childhood
Every day, i pick up my daughters from school, and we sometimes hang around the schoolyard to play. This past week, i sat at a picnic table while the junior boys’ softball team warmed up, and i was triggered by the team’s coach. No, it wasn’t a rape...
by ryanc | Sep 8, 2014 | Childhood, Games
Nostalgia is a strange thing. We tend to remember the gist of something rather than the thing itself, and we wind up with a hazy impressionistic view that’s connected more to the emotions we had while experiencing the thing. Mention Where in the World is Carmen...
by ryanc | Dec 13, 2004 | Childhood
In 1983, when i was five, the most money anyone could have or spend on anything was a hunnerd dollars. In fact, it was SO much money that one rarely called it “a hunnerd dollars.” It was most often pronounced, incredulously, “a hunnerd...
by ryanc | Dec 2, 2004 | Childhood, Fatherhood, Toys, Twistedhip
When they coined the term “deadbeat dad,” they were talking about my father. The information i have about him is pieced together from whatever scant information my mother would mete out, and the very few visits i had with him. A world traveller, my father...
