THE LOST COLUMN
Slice Of Life Stories On Family, Sports, Losing & Life
I’ve been a writer since ‘94 but have experienced losing for much longer.
It’s a chronic condition: At 13, Donny Wilmot beat me 7-6 in tennis and told me, “You played a career match Cote, and you still lost.” In high school, I started at shooting guard as a Sophomore, a year in which our hoops team put up 20 in the loss column, out of 20 games. At 26, I got so lost driving home from New York City on my third date with Bridget we ended up on Pennsylvania’s I-80. That’s really hard to do. I lost my hair by 29, my ability to make a 3-foot putt by 30 and the grass in my front yard by June, every year. At 33, I left my wallet on the top of the Subaru while filling up the tank twice in an eight-day span; both times the wallet fell off as I spun away. Today, I deal with a different kind of losing – as a coach of a middle school girls basketball team of kids who’ve never really played before and don’t have a safe place at home to practice; as a father of three who give their best in sports and on stage, but don’t always win, and as a man on the cusp of 50 who on any given day loses his patience, keys, favorite shirt and hearing….through it all, I try to learn a little something from losing….and be better for it the next time.
This is my book on losing—how to do it gracefully and with any luck stop it.
Therapy Meltdown
What can we do to elevate the quality of mental health therapy in this country?
The Neti Pot
Why some addictions may be uncomfortable but in the larger scheme of things….
Late For Supper
Sometimes older folks are waiting for each other to stand up and go, and sometimes when they get up they fall down.
Predicting Things
It’s one thing to diagnose something or to order a test to figure out what’s wrong - with your health, your lawn, your family - but will the answer change behavior?
Where Did It Go?
Things disappear sometimes …. what does it say about us and what does it mean?
The Richard Kimble Moment
Dad decided to re-enact the Fugitive character’s experience on Memorial Day….here’s a look back.
Diagnosing The Problem
Difficulty determining the root cause of pain, anxiety and fatigue has parents, schools, insurers and doctors scrambling amidst the rising mental health crisis.
Excluded From The Formulary
A new family policy will hopefully curtail overpaying for food delivery