Fear

Fear has never been unfamiliar to me. It started out simple, I guess… Fear of the dark. Fear of talking to strangers. Fear of heights. Fear of spiders and snakes. The usual. But as I’ve gotten older I wonder sometimes if my relationship with Fear is more like an awkward…

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Residual “Single Parent Mode”

Funny story. Isn’t it great how many times we say that out loud when regaling our friends with tales that are… well… less than funny? Anyway, it was a busy weekend in the Varland house. We saw Iron & Wine at the Taft on Friday, shot a wedding in Bloomington,…

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Open Windows

This morning I sat and ate my breakfast with two windows open behind me… Ok, ok. I know that a lot of you know how much I love winter, but that seems a bit extreme even for me. Here’s the story: Back in 2014/15, I used to eat MorningStar Farm’s…

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Twelve Years

One of my favorite movies of all time is Dan in Real Life. If you haven’t seen it, go do it. Seriously, it’s fantastic. Steve Carell and the entire cast are able to bring together aspects of love, grief, family dynamics, parenthood and life’s unexpected turns so deftly. Anyway, there’s…

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