At Christmas, I gave my son a brand-new car and his wife a designer purse, thinking love still mattered. Then he smiled and said his wife wanted to “teach me a lesson,” so they had no gift for me.

to make people love you. We decided not to reward that behavior.”

Daniel added, “You need to learn that we’re not children waiting for handouts.”

I looked through the window at the car I had just bought for him. Then I looked at the purse still dangling from Marissa’s arm. No one moved. No one laughed. Even my sister seemed to stop breathing for a second.continue reading …