Chris Dudley’s two daughters, ages five and three, love books – a reflection of their parents’ enthusiasm for reading and bookshops.  “My first reading memory is having Mrs. Porter, the school librarian at Crestview Elementary School, read Beverly Cleary’s Henry Huggins aloud to my class back in third grade,”  says…

“You don’t have to kiss or hug anyone you do not want to.”  I started sharing statements like this with each of my children when they were about four years old. Having been sexually abused at the age of eleven, I know firsthand the importance of giving kids the tools…

Nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers is Asheville, North Carolina – a trendy small-ish city devoted to craft beers, vibrant arts, and seemingly endless outdoor activities – all surrounding a Vanderbilt in his full glory. And food! If…

When millions of people tuned in to watch the final episodes of This Is Us, I was right there with them. Well, sort of. During its six-year run, I recorded each show and watched later, by myself, so I could tear up, get choked up, or full-on dissolve emotionally without…

Working full-time and being a mom is hectic, to say the least. It leaves very little time to bond as a family during the workweek. If one of the kids has an extracurricular activity, I’m usually the one showing up out of breath and looking disheveled. No matter how exhausted…

Oh, joy. They’re home. For the summer. Don’t get me wrong. Their mother and I have been aching for months to have them back in our newly empty nest. Lucy is a rising senior in college. Will has just finished freshman year. And there’s nothing we’ve looked forward to more…

It’s a bittersweet time of the summer for us, knowing this will be our last August without school in the mix. The announcement came in June that this will be the final year our schools will start after Labor Day, and come 2023, we’ll start back in mid-August. The public…

  The most fun I’ve had reading non-fiction. Written by psychotherapist, New York Times best-selling author, and national advice columnist Lori Gottlieb, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone chronicles the author’s sessions with a series of her patients, while also sharing her own experience as a patient in therapy.  I…

Summer is the perfect time to learn about and craft creatures that live in the ocean. What you need: • Yarn in at least two different colors • Googly eyes (buttons, construction paper) • Scissors • Glue • Pencil What you do: 1 Wrap the yarn around four fingers of…

My soon-to-be eighth-grader has a crush on a neighbor. A few summers ago (pre-crush and pre-pandemic), I let them hang out together in her bedroom. I don’t think that’s a good idea now. Any thoughts on how I should approach this? My initial thought was that if your eighth-grader is…

When Shaundra visits the easy-access, always-free fridge near her family’s Fulton Hill home, she usually picks up a few eggs, fresh greens, or another vegetable or fruit. The Richmond parent says she wants her kids to have at least one serving a day of real food. Because the closest grocery…

Every year, more than 46,000 Americans are diagnosed with preventable cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Today a vaccine exists that prevents the majority of HPV infections which, in turn, prevents more than 90 percent of all cancers caused by HPV.  HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection…

Banana Frozen Treat with Magic Shell 3 frozen bananas 1 to 2 tablespoons almond milk (if necessary) 2 tablespoons dark chocolate chips (I recommend Lily’s) 1 teaspoon coconut oil Pinch of flaked sea salt, optional Add bananas to a food processor or high-powered blender and process until smooth and creamy,…

COVID-19 caused significant disruptions to our everyday lives that have created ripple effects across a variety of industries. The housing market is no exception. During the past two years, many people have left behind the urban sprawl of mega-cities for smaller and mid-sized markets like Richmond. This influx is fueled,…

Fifteen years before Rosa Parks sparked the modern Civil Rights movement, a young Black lawyer opened a law practice in Richmond. Born in this city in 1907, Oliver Hill had grown up in Jim Crow Virginia, attended Howard University Law School, and returned to Richmond in 1939 with the explicit intention…

As summer drags on, you may be thinking about buying or servicing your existing heating and air conditioning system. The total cost of any appliance, including heating and cooling systems, has three components: the purchase price, the cost of repairs and maintenance, and the cost to operate it. With heating…

Many parents feel the pull on their time and resources to balance work and home. We find and pay for child care, we watch as remote work merges with managing virtual learning, and somehow, we find a way to fit our doctor and dental appointments into our workdays. Two-thirds of…