A Family Tradition - a Column by Carlos Briceño

Buried in my brain is a Proustian memory. It occurred during my elementary school graduation ceremony when the principal played the song “The Way We Were,” by Barbra Streisand. Any time I hear that song, I am transported back to hearing Streisand’s voice: “Mem’ries/ Light the corners of my…

One of the characteristics of a good journalist is being able to digest a lot of information, such as the entirety of a study, and then concisely present the most pertinent and interesting facts in a 700-word story. I have written many of these articles in my career, and I…

Over Easter weekend, my mother-in-law, Edwina, visited. My wife, Jill, and I are always happy to see her, and as usual, the conversation turned to the latest news in the family. One notable occurrence was a situation involving her brother’s mother-in-law, Lucille, whose health at 97 years old is fragile.

“Do you believe in miracles?” Sports announcer Al Michaels uttered that sentence on national television in February 1980 during an Olympic hockey game between the United States and the Soviet Union. During the game, which was later dubbed the “Miracle on Ice,” the Americans were heavy underdogs. But that…

My wife, Jill, and I do not dwell on her Huntington’s disease (HD). We know it’s there, of course, lurking like gray, angry clouds and chilly air that say winter is coming. But from time to time, we do talk about it. The other night, Jill used a…

One of the most inspirational definitions of kindness I’ve ever read comes from Father Lawrence G. Lovasik’s book “The Hidden Power of Kindness“: “Not only is kindness due to everyone, but a special kindness is due to everyone. Kindness is not kindness unless it is special. Its charm…

I like learning, especially from smart people. My wife, Jill, is one of the smartest I know. With that in mind, I wanted her wisdom from the years she spent caring for her father, who had Huntington’s disease (HD) and died in 2011. Following are some of the lessons…

I have previously discussed in this space my wife Jill’s dislike of visiting the doctor. I use the word “dislike,” but she would use the word “hate.” Since Jill was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease in 2018, I try to go with her to appointments when she asks me to.

I love to read. I developed my affinity for books as a young child, when I would accompany my father on his trips to the library. A joke in my family is that when I die, I want to be buried under a library. That way, my ghost will always…

One of U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s dreams was to send men to the moon and have them return safely to Earth. “We choose to go to the moon,” he told a crowd of about 40,000 people at Rice University’s football stadium in September 1962. “We choose to go…