There is something very interesting that happens when you teach your teenage child how to drive: you develop a phantom brake in your right leg when you are sitting in the passenger seat. In some part of your brain you know this brake isn’t real but it still makes you feel in control, so there’s that.

During the recent “Polar Vortex” I was blessed to be vacationing in Miami Beach, Florida. I had been invited to speak in Palm Beach Gardens and my daughters were on winter break at the Hebrew Academy, so we booked tickets and flew south. The plan was to stay in my grandmother’s condo for three days and two nights and chill at the beach and pool – and eat lots of good kosher food.

Sometimes the Jewish community spends years trying to figure out how to solve a problem when the solution comes from the most unexpected place.

Facebook’s latest meme is called, “How hard has aging hit you?” If you didn’t get the memo, you’re supposed to post your very first profile picture (typically from 2008 or 2009) alongside your current picture – roughly a ten year gap. And then, you’re supposed to see how badly you’ve aged.

Life is serious and important. The flipping of the calendar (so to speak) reminds us to solemnly assess what was and choose what will be. But just as the passage of time reminds us how very serious and fleeting life is, it also serves as a reminder that, as King Solomon said, “This too shall pass.” Don’t take it all so seriously.

At the end of 2014, I wrote a blog post, a sort of confessional about the struggles with the high-functioning autism diagnosis that had characterized our family’s year. (I later took it down out of respect for our family’s privacy.)

I finally realized why I like to travel so much, and it’s not half as exciting as I thought. There really is one overarching reason, and it’s so simple and in a way sad but those of you who are raising families will understand and perhaps even validate me here: