Author: bobl

My father died fifty years ago this month.  I was fifteen years old when he died abruptly from a stroke.  The summer before he died I was optimistic about my upcoming sophomore year of high school.   There was a parade on Labor Day down Raritan Avenue in Highland Park, New Jersey.  Later that afternoon, there...

Dedicated to my Loving Sister Marion Livingstone   For almost fifty years I believed that my father who died on November 9, 1966 didn’t love or approve of me.  I thought at best he was indifferent towards my presence, but now I’m ready to face the reality that my view point was highly distorted.  ...

My father died suddenly of a stroke almost fifty years ago.   I was fifteen and he was fifty-six.  I am now sixty-five years old and his death shattered my teenage life.  I have been trying to understand how his death affected me ever since.   I have written a large body of work about my dad’s...

I arise after a fitful night of waking up several times and gazing at the digital clock striking 3:47am.  I am exhausted, depressed, anxious and emotionally swimming in a murky swamp.  The swamp engulfs me as feelings of hopelessness stab me in the heart. My wife kisses me goodbye and I miss her as soon...

My father died almost fifty years ago.  I was fifteen when he came home day from work at the factory in the middle of the day in the summer of 1966.  That was highly unusual.    He walked through the door with his hair disheveled and a preoccupied look in his eyes.  My mother told me...

Many adults are finding themselves questioning if they want to continue the lifestyle that they have worked so hard to attain.  Men and women have pushed themselves to obtain advanced college degrees from prestigious colleges.  They have bought multi-million dollar homes in the suburbs.  They have two teenage children who are not flawless, but are...

Many of the mothers I speak with tell me they are concerned about pressuring their children to do more homework in order to get the best grades so they can get into the best colleges.  This causes a lot of stress in the household.  Moms tell me that they are worried about their children’s future...

“Let fury have the hour, anger can be power D’you know that you can use it?” The Clampdown by Mick Jones and Joe Strummer of The Clash Tragedy can hit us on a national/international level like when forty-nine patrons of an Orlando gay night club were gunned down June 12, 2016.  The news reports of...

I am a psychotherapist who has been in private practice nearly thirty years.  I have worked with many clients who have alcoholic friends.  This following is a composite of their stories.   I have a friend, Jimmy who is an alcoholic.   He is in his mid-thirties and seems to be self-destructing before my eyes.   He...

I learned to recognize how I react when emotionally abused.  The emotional abuse is delivered verbally and my reaction has been to freeze and no longer be present in the room.   My father was impatient with me and never seemed to take the time to explain a chess move or a tennis stroke to...