Mahjong, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Most recently, I felt cooler than cool when I found out movie star Julia Roberts’ favorite hobby is playing mahj!  Several of you have sent me a 2018 video clip that’s resurfacing of the Oscar-winning...

Last week I visited my older son, Davis, at college. We had lunch, went shopping and enjoyed four glorious hours of mom and son time. He brought along one of his new buddies for lunch, the adorable and sweet Tommy.  During their bro talk I heard a word...

Kids, these days. No one knows what they’re talking about! It’s probably the same stuff we talked about when we were young but with new words.  Remember being young, when you didn’t have back pain and went out for the evening at 10 p.m.? Those...

Yom Kippur, which begins at sundown Oct. 11, is the Day of Atonement when we ask God to forgive us for our sins. We just celebrated Rosh Hashanah 5785, the Jewish New Year, and released our tashlich, casting off the sins of 5784. We are supposed to reflect...

One of the best things about being Jewish is celebrating holidays. There are the standard American and Hallmark ones like Valentine’s Day and Thanksgiving. Jews get so many extra holidays, including our gift of having two New Year’s celebrations.  When...

In my last column I mentioned an advice book I wanted to write for my older son, Davis, titled, “Quantity Over Quality: The College Years.”  It’s a guide to navigating your years in higher education, featuring practical advice about dating, partying...

It’s been said that God gives her toughest battles to her strongest soldiers. Parents sending their kids off to college are training in boot camp, prepping to march on the front lines of an emotional combat zone. We need the strength of a full platoon...

I have a lot of random ideas swimming around in my head. They’re doing laps, jumping off the high dive and frankly just taking up space. It’s time to purge my flooded brain.   • Charcuterie boards can be so impressive, elaborate and inviting....

There are three judgments I will make with conviction and confidence that I am right, and you won’t ever be able to change my mind: 1. Listening to music selected by today’s teenagers makes me feel like I’m being drugged for surgery. 2. Nothing...

Is it difficult to concentrate on reading this right now because of the distracting noise across the St. Louis area? It’s a constant buzz with crescendos and rhythms in unison that get so loud you lose focus on your task at hand. Oy with the freakin’...

By press time, my oldest child will officially be a high school graduate. Also by press time, I will be swimming in deep waves of emotion, texting and calling all of the other parents who are stranded at sea with me. What do we do now? How did this happen...

When I cook dinner for my family, I tend to announce what each dish is. There’s really no need because it’s usually pretty obvious with foods like chicken that look like chicken, broccoli that looks like broccoli, and noodles that look like noodles....