Lens on Leading: Notes from Antony

We decided to get a new puppy. Some of you are gasping with horror and some with glee. We lost our faithful dog Bailey last year, and it was time.

Another blossom has fallen. I woke this morning to the news of the death of Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef, writer, and television personality.

Why did the blossoms leave? We haven’t been in our new home long, still less than 12 months. We love it. It’s been a joy to live with our house through a full cycle of the seasons; the golden fall, the snowy nor’easters, the buds of spring, and now the overwhelming green of summer bearing down.

Winter sure dragged on this year, didn’t it? Piles of snow in the East and Midwest well into April—and I mean well into April—got on people’s nerves. Some people were ready for baseball. What do you mean the game was postponed because of snow? (Well, my friend the...

Twitter. It can infuriate or inform. Occasionally you read something that makes you stop in your tracks. There’s an acuity to the moment, yet you stare at the words and try to make sense.

Andrea and the girls and I went to the UK a few weeks ago. You might think we wanted to see our families and friends, and I won’t deny that was a nice corollary experience, but as a British citizen living in the US, I felt it was my obligation to undertake an...

On this evening as I gather my thoughts, I look in two directions with utter astonishment. First, my daughter Ellie has been upstairs crashing after her first overnight school event. How can this be? Of course she’s been away from us overnight before, but this was the first big overnight field trip. The students went to the science museum for their very own Night at the Museum experience. How can this be? My little girl!

One of my daughter’s previous teachers said this, and I thought it was quite wise. That was a bargain I was willing to sign on to. Education is a partnership. We’re in this together because of the preciousness of what we hold in our hands together. The girls spend a lot of time at school, and the school nurtures this preciousness alongside Andrea and me as parents. We all want the best for them.

“Watchful waiting” is a familiar concept in health care. You know someone has a test result that is off or symptoms that might or might not indicate a condition, so you watch and wait for the time when it might be right to try a medical intervention of some sort. Even when a diagnosis is certain, watchful waiting might be the right approach.

Before we moved to Boston, Ellie and Ava heard there might be “snow days.” Actual days off of school because of too much snow! They were very much in favor of this idea. A few weeks ago, they got their wish, when so much of the eastern part of the country saw crazy low temperatures and inches and inches of white stuff from the sky. Around here it was one of the biggest snowstorms on record.