You’re on a beach, beneath a coconut palm, sipping a cold juice, as you watch the antics of a pudgy naked baby digging in the sand and...

The little girl kept doing it … marching straight to the front, skipping everyone in line and going down the water slide. After the 3rd...

A gorgeous, recently divorced, friend of mine told me, “I’ve been off the market for ten years. Back when I was dating, it seemed that...

“Did you ever get divorced?” 6-yo Kai recently asked my wife, as we three sat on the couch munching white-cheddar popcorn. “No, that was...

Dusk Falls on Dan’s Delicious, acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 48″, 2002, Stuart Sheldon Helplessness happens. We are born completely powerless...

“Daddy, do babies have tiny nipples?” my 4-yo, Bodhi, asked me, lounging in a fresh pair of PJs. “Yes,” I answered from the couch,...

Do your parents construct your soul at that climactic moment? Or does it pre-exist, only to be reactivated in that surge of...

Goodbye Old Friend, 20″X23″ Acrylic, paper, antique book pages and cardboard on panel with original poetry, 2005, Stuart Sheldon “Speak...

Inspiration arrives when she damn well pleases, and when she does show her elusive face, you grab her by both cheeks and French kiss that...

Last week, my 6 yr-old frolicked in a large pool with a couple 9-yr old girls he befriended at a family resort we hit with my mother,...

I once sat under a large sycamore tree with the poet Allen Ginsberg and a small cluster of his students. He was thick around the middle...

The small acts of service nobody sees define your character. When someone gets a “good feeling” about you, this selflessness is one of...

My wife does not hold onto anger or disappointment. It is one of the steel rods that form her character. Had she held grudges, our...

“A mop went to a party. But he was shy, so he just went home and cleaned up the house.” My wide-eyed 6-yr-old shared this with me a few...

As a palliative care nurse, Bronnie Ware, spent time at the bedsides of patients who went home to die. In the last days of their existenc...

There’s an old adage that you should have one friend twice your age and one friend half your age. Actually, I just made that up. But it’s...

What’s the thing you wish deeply to do well, but just can’t nail? When not dreaming of flying like Peter Pan, I dream of surfing. Not...

“You’re amazing. I loved it. Wouldn’t change a thing!” Unless you’re talking to Stevie Wonder, this is not legitimate feedback. It’s...

“Why is there no 13th floor on that building?” my 5-yr-old son asked, his head tilted back. Sure enough, spray-painted on the side of the...

“Life’s hard. It’s even harder when you’re stupid.”  John Wayne. As we crest a new year, it would do us all good to acknowledge we have...