Author: Carter Gaddis

• Parenting

  High Anxiety: the Price of Parental Expectations in Youth Sports?

  An Ithaca College study published this month in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology confirms again that we, as parents, have absolutely no idea what we’re doing. This is especially true, according to the study, for parents of kids aged 6-18 who participate in competitive swimming, tennis, gymnastics, bowling, wrestling,…

  March 26, 2015
• Writing

  Broken Places

  “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” – A Farewell to Arms We are broken in unseen places. We are broken by divorce. We are broken when we lose a dream career because of a poor economy. We are broken by a heart attack.…

  March 25, 2015
• Parenting

  How to Adopt a Kitten

  One sunny day in January 1996, we decided to adopt a kitten. We drove to the Humane Society of Pinellas County to pick one out. We found a litter of six tabby kittens just out of foster care, a furry, mewling mass squirming around their recumbent mother in a covered,…

  March 22, 2015
• Parenting

  Oren Miller: He Has Shown Me How to Live

  We want context at the end. We want order, or some sense of purpose. We want it to matter. We want to tell our stories, and we want them to make sense. It helps with the pain. It helps with the sadness. It helps to remind us that the reason…

  February 25, 2015
• Parenting Politics

  Nerf Guns and Nonsense

  My older son peered through the blinds into our back yard, but made no move to join his friends. His homework was finished and he was free to play until supper time. Yet, the Monday afternoon soccer game went on without him. “Aren’t you going outside?” I said. He turned away…

  January 27, 2015
• Sports

  My 2015 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot

  Here’s something I’ll bet you didn’t know about newly elected Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson. The tall left-hander had a losing record against three teams in his distinguished career. The Yankees (6-8) were one. The Mets (6-7) were another. The third? The … um … Tampa Bay Devil Rays.…

  January 6, 2015
• Parenting

  What’s Important

  What’s important? It’s a question. The question, really. It’s also an imperative statement reminding you to recognize and acknowledge something you ought to appreciate in the moment. I’m thinking about what’s important. Do you know? These things we write. These stories we tell. This used to seem important. It might have been,…

  November 16, 2014
• Travel

  Food, Wine and a Day in the Sun

  One year later, we walked around the world together. The light kissed our cheeks and the breeze tossed our hair. It was a cool day, a good day. A day of food, a day of wine. A day together in the sun. Epcot’s 2014 International Food and Wine Festival has…

  November 10, 2014
• Sports

  A Quick Joe Maddon Story

  Joe Maddon’s mind doesn’t work like yours and mine. There is high intelligence. There is wit. There is humor. There is flexibility. There is nuance. There also is a stubborn streak that served him well with the Tampa Bay Rays. I don’t believe I’ve ever been around someone who so…

  October 24, 2014
• Florida life Universal Orlando

  Memories are waiting at Universal CityWalk

  Jimmy Buffett beckoned. Margaritaville was made for memories. My future wife and I strolled along the neon-bright thoroughfare at Universal CityWalk, taking our first steps into a lifetime together. This was 2003. Beth and I had only been dating a short time. It was a big weekend — our first…

  October 20, 2014