OPEN MIKE
reflections
ARTICLES AND PERSONAL REFLECTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, AND ON BLOGS
A New Chapter
It's fitting that the first of our triplets to come home from the hospital after being born 9 weeks early is the first to exit the nest and head to college. Today we moved Maggie in to her dorm at the University of Connecticut, which holds a special place in my heart...
School Boy Heart
In their haste to go swimming at a friend’s house today, my three favorite children left the kitchen a complete mess; apparently there’s nothing as scary to my kids than a clean dishwasher. I have a lot of work to do today but, since I have a Ph.D. in procrastination,...
Fatman and the Boy Blunder
CHalloween was one of my favorite holidays as a kid. I loved the fact that, for one day out of the year, I could pretend to be someone else. It's not that I didn't like who I was, but the idea that you could put on a mask and a cape and turn yourself into your...
The Daily Smile Day 7—Holy Thursday
If we were in ordinary time (my fellow Catholics will see what I did there), tonight we'd be gathering as a community and celebrating mass for Holy Thursday, in which we recount The Last Supper. I know, it's a pretty heavy topic for something called The Daily Smile,...
The Daily Smile Day 5: Columbo
There have been many game changers in the police procedural genre. I remember when NYPD Blue debuted and it was so "edgy," what with the foul language and nudity that was so racy for network TV. Law and Order and its ripped from the headlines take on plot lines...
The Daily Smile Day 4: The Love Boat
I have a confession to make, I've never been on a cruise. When I lived in Florida, my mother and father took my older brother and sister on a cruise on a ship called The Flavia. Jimmy and I didn't care because we were afraid of anything that went on the open seas....
The Daily Smile Day 3: What’s Old is New Again
I became the father of triplets at the ripe of age of 27. When you have triplets, you realize that you've been lied to your entire life. I'm sure that, at some point in your life, you were told, "There's no such thing as a stupid question." That's a lie, there is....
The Daily Smile Day 2: Pippilino
We are dog people. There it is, I said it. Despite the fact that our father always proclaimed, "I don't like dogs, but dogs like me," all of the Carlon siblings are dog people. Even my older brother Greg, who fought hard against getting a dog, is now the pet parent of...
Introducing, The Daily Smile
So, I really feel as if this picture summarizes it all. Brotherhood. Love. The carefree days of our youth. We remain close as adults and, even though we don’t see each other as much as we’d like, we can easily pick up where we left off.