Dear Lady Yelling At Her Kids in Central Park,
I saw the whole thing, and I want to tell you I get it. I have no idea what language you were speaking, but it was clearly time to go.
You asked a hundred times. Cooing, jackets out, stroller packed, snack-jar shaking, and your kids still pretended you didn't exist.
Really, you gave them both plenty of time – a 5-minute warning just like the experts suggest. First you had one wrangled. Then, just as you were getting your oldest to move it along, the little one bolted for the tire swing.
Kudos for staying patient so long. Ya'll went back and forth three or four times before you totally lost it. And it's good to know that, "... by the time I count to 5! 1 ... 2 ..." is the same in every language, and that all kids wait until the...
Lifestyle
Dear Mum,
I often ponder the story you told me long ago, of when you upped and left my biological father when I was just six weeks old, with little more belongings than just the clothes on your back.
You've repeatedly told me that the reason you left is because you didn't want me to grow up in a violent household. You chose not to stick with a familiarity that you weren't happy with. You don't know what was beyond the cliff but you knew I couldn't be as bad as the life you knew then, so you jumped. You knew stepped into an abyss with a fully dependent baby girl with very little security and no idea what was coming around the corner.
I think about that huge act of bravery a lot, these days. You had me at a younger age that I am now, bearing more responsibility than I do now, yet...
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Hey Mamas,
I'm sorry. I'm sorry you lost your boys. As the mother of a boy, this is the unthinkable. My heart aches for your loss.
I'm sorry your sons died over cartoons. Cartoons are supposed to be sources of humour and smiles and laughter. They are supposed to trigger thought, not violence. They are entertainment, commentary and art ... not a reason to die.
I'm sorry that in the wake of Charlie Hebdo, the media did not stand up for free speech and publish as many Muhammad cartoons as possible, making it normal. I'm sure, had the media not been so gutless, and Muhammad cartoons became frequent and normal, that the ones in Garland would not have had the impact on your sons that they did.
I'm sorry your sons' education failed to produce critical thinkers and instead, likely...
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Dear Human Rights Defenders Worldwide:
It has been two years since Atoullo Raqibov, resident of Zarkamar Village of Fayzobod District in the Republic of Tajikistan, tirelessly trying to defend his rights for fair trial after his house was destroyed in August 2009 by order of local prosecutor and as a result, his family of seven, including five young children became homeless and suffer in hardships.
Nobody in the government of Tajikistan seems to listen to his claims, but on the contrary, instead of hearing his concerns objectively, last week they arrested him and transferred him to a prison in Dushanbe.
We are a group of compatriots of Raqibov's family who believe he and his family were treated unjustly, with many instances of violations of laws by local officials. Therefore, we...
2,656
Hello, Ricketts!
Man, you guys look tired. If I owned the Chicago Cubs, I would be, too. The city won't let you put up big signs at Wrigley Field, the rooftop businesses that are stealing your product want to be able to continue stealing your product and you want to have more night games. You also have to spend time in a small room with Rahm Emanuel, which can't be pleasant.
You can have all your baseball dreams come true in DuPage County! You can put up signs as big as a mall, and you can build fortress-like walls that will keep rooftop parasites out. In fact, we can build a stadium that makes it impossible for anyone to try those roofie shenanigans. My first thought was a mile-wide moat with crocodiles, but I think there's an opportunity to tie it in with your franchise....
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Hey Doc,
I was wondering if before you see me the next time and tell my parents that I still need to be medicated for ADHD, you might consider a few things about me that you might not know. You see as a kid who can barely pick out an outfit that matches, make my bed, or wake up not hoping it's Saturday, I kind of have an active imagination. Like nearly all of my friends, I hate taking baths and I like to daydream. And when I daydream, I seem to not pay attention to what others are talking about. I kind of get lost in my own little world where rainbows do lead to pots of gold, leprechauns are real, life often feels like my favorite video game, and fart jokes never get old.
I try not to, but I can't seem to stop. (I said "butt.") It's as if being outside and playing is so much more...
2,337
Dear Brad,
You've been on the run for 37 years now. It's time to turn yourself in.
Why? Because you'll soon turn 77 and because you owe it to Annette, Lobelia, Brad III, Brent and Geoffrey.
As you approach the end of your life, do you really want to go to your own grave not having atoned for what you did to them? I believe you still have a conscience, that your sin eats at you each and every day, that you know in your heart that you need to explain your act.
How is it that I can say this? Well, Brad, I feel that I know you. You see, we have some things in common. We're both ex-Foreign Service officers, we both have Ivy League degrees, we both started our government careers in military intelligence, we're both multilingual, we're both over 6'1" and fit. And we both married...
3,339
Dear Vail Resorts,
Let me explain to you why I will not be returning to this resort anytime in the near future and will indicate to other families on online forums that they should decline to come to Vail as well.
As you are aware, marijuana is now legal in Colorado. I have been visiting Vail and Beaver Creek for many years now with my family, and enjoyed all my years here with no real problems. We have a lot of memories here. Within the span of several days, my son and I were exposed to numerous conversations on buses, gondola rides and restaurants related to recreational drug use. The fact that people are restricted to smoking pot in the privacy of their room doesn’t mean that they won’t reek of pot on gondola rides, or that they won’t be talking about getting high with numerous...
2,445
Dear Nazanin,
How are you, my dear?
The last time we spoke – in an interview for your recently-published book – you’d just married your husband, the Honourable Peter MacKay, then Minister of National Defence, now Minister of Justice and Attorney General, and in the words of this newspaper, Canada’s “Minister of Wrong Again.”
As you may have heard, your life partner and baby daddy has managed to get himself in a bit of hot water where the women of Canada are concerned. And as I read about the fallout – from both his ill-judged comments about women in the judiciary and those very strange leaked Mother and Father’s Day e-mails – I couldn’t help but think of you.
You were radiant during our chat nearly two years ago, I remember, your long dark hair swooshing across my Skype...
7,510
Dear Friends,
There's never an easy way to share difficult news but you all have been a part of so many joys, tears, valleys and triumphs with our family over the years and I wanted to ask for your prayers as we walk through this challenge. My dad, Buck Rambo, has been fighting a private battle with cancer over the last several months. Throughout the diagnosis, doctor's visits, radiation and chemotherapy, dad has been and remains a fighter. He knows the Great Physician and has experienced healing many times in his life. He is truly an inspiration to us all.
His precious wife Mae is such a kind, loving and faithful caregiver. She and Dad will be coming back home to Nashville from his treatments in Florida at the end of this month. Please believe with us for complete healing, wisdom,...
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