“Hey, Padre!” I hear those words, and all is right with the world. These words are what my eldest son calls me. I can’t remember when he started. All I know is when I hear that small phrase my pulse slows down and I remember that I am loved, and…

Last week I traveled to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to spend a few days with my wife, Cazandra. She works as a hospice chaplain there and usually travels back to Belen, our current home, on weekends. We’ll end this busy commute schedule next month, when we both move full…

I meet a friend at noon at my home in rural northern California. We hop into my car and drive two hours north to Brookings, a coastal town just across the border in Oregon. Driving around town, I search for a quiet parking lot with good phone reception. Using a…

I have long admired the world-renowned ballerina Michaela DePrince. Like many others, I was captivated by her inspiring journey from being a war orphan in Sierra Leone to her rise as a star on the global dance stage. Tragically, DePrince recently died at the young age of 29, just one…

As a father of sons with hemophilia, I know my way around a hospital like the back of my hand. We have visited the emergency room far too often. An internal bleed from a fall or a spontaneous joint injury would start at home and continue to cause…

My wife, Cazandra, and I had a brief discussion as we continued packing what seemed like a million boxes for our move from Rio Communities, which is near Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Las Cruces, about 200 miles south. Between the phrases “That goes there” and “Put that box in that…

The pool was loud in the way summer pools usually are — whistles, splashes, kids calling out to each other, coaches raising their voices above the noise, parents chatting on the sidelines. Our 7-year-old daughter stood at the edge, waiting for her instructor to guide her into the Olympic-sized pool.

I’ve recently taken to collecting pearls. It started as a stock-obtaining activity for the jewelry business I run with my husband, Jared, who has hemophilia. It has since grown into a full-fledged personal obsession. This means I’ve been making a lot of sentimental purchases, but I have absolutely no regrets.

The toughest part about moving to a new city or state is locating health providers that are covered (most likely) by a new insurance plan. It’s difficult for families with hemophilia, like ours, to find pediatricians and internists. But dentists are by far the most challenging to locate. Fellow…

Although my sons, now 15 and 24, are different as night and day, they both began asking questions about hemophilia at about age 5. I tackled the tough issues they wrestled with, always acknowledging that their problems contained merit. At 5 years old, they each asked the same question that…