Day: November 22, 2025

• I let my 14-year-old son skip school to attend the opening of a new Lego store together.
• It was a special bonding experience, and I don’t regret it.
• While in line, I realized he’s interested in Legos again for the same reason I wanted to take him.

Two weeks ago, I let my 14-year-old son take a day off from school so we could go to the grand opening of our new Lego store.

I know it sounds frivolous. And I’m not the kind of parent who encourages blowing off school for a trip to the mall. But for us, it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment — one of those small, strange, wonderful opportunities to make a memory I know we’ll both hold onto.

Going to the new Lego store was a good chance to spend time together

My son was big into Lego blocks when he was little, but like many kids, his interest tapered off as video games became more appealing. And then, out of nowhere, it roared back with teenage intensity. He started following new releases, quoting “price per piece” statistics, and making regular visits to our local secondhand Lego shop for a “quick look.”

Until two weeks ago, the closest official Lego store was over two hours away, so the idea that one was opening practically in our backyard felt big. When he told me the date for the grand opening, I half-jokingly asked if he wanted to go. His eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning.

So we went.

We stood in line for almost two hours just to get in the door — surrounded by a huge, good-natured crowd of mostly adults, some with young kids — but it honestly didn’t feel that long to me. My son and I spent the time chatting about everything from what he was hoping to buy to what we were looking forward to doing on the upcoming holiday break.

I realized in line why he was into Legos again — and why the day felt so special

It struck me as we waited in line: he’s clinging to Lego for the same reason I wanted to take him to the store opening that day. We’re both holding on to something that feels simple and uncomplicated in a world where everything seems to be accelerating for him.

At 14, he’s in this place between childhood and adulthood. He’s mature and focused, and more self-aware than I ever was at his age. He earns good grades, is on the student council and the Model UN team at his school, volunteers at the library every week, and has recently told me he feels like he has a lot on his plate. He’s busy in a new, adult way, and Lego is his way of decompressing, something that lets his brain (and emotions) take a break.

Seeing the little kids waiting with their parents, I was reminded of just how quickly time passes. My son and I often talk about the future and his college and career aspirations. He’s forming his own opinions and priorities, and I’m grateful that he still wants to talk about (almost) everything with me. But I’m also aware that the window for spontaneous weekday adventures is rapidly narrowing.

Taking him out of school for the day was about showing him that, as he grows up, there’s still room for joy and silliness. He got to experience the child-like excitement of being a kid with no responsibilities for a few hours — and I got to match his excitement just by watching him be completely in his element.

When we finally made it into the store, he took his time wandering around to see all of the displays and make his choices. He didn’t get the Gingerbread AT-AT Walker Lego set he really wanted — we would’ve had to have been closer to the front of the line for that coveted purchase — but he found a couple of other sets he liked, as well as one for his brother, and even one for me.

More than the stuff, we came home with a shared new memory. One that we’ll pull out at holiday meals and visits home from college — “Remember that time we waited in line for hours at the new Lego store? That was wild!”

I don’t regret taking him out of school for a day. In fact, I imagine I’ll do it again a few more times before he graduates. Grades matter. Attendance matters. Preparing for the future matters. But so does carving out space to connect with my kid before the time slips away.

• Donald Trump signed a bill that will release the DOJ’s files on Jeffrey Epstein.
• It’s the latest in a long line of Epstein documents that have been released.
• But this one stands to be different. Here’s how.

More than six years after his death in jail, Jeffrey Epstein is still alive and well in the public discourse.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act after months of pressure from members of Congress, including some in his own party.

The law requires one of the most radical acts of transparency in the Justice Department’s history, requiring it to make public its records related to Epstein, the notorious and well-connected pedophile financier who killed himself while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

The department has 30 days to comply, setting a deadline of Saturday, December 19.

Epstein counted Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and other titans of finance, law, politics, and science among his acquaintances. His alleged victims and other members of the public hope the files will shed light on those relationships and law enforcement’s handling of the case.

Here’s what sets this release apart:

Haven’t we already seen a whole lot of ‘Epstein files’?

In recent months, the House Oversight Committee has made public Epstein-related documents it obtained through subpoenas, including emails provided by his estate.

Other documents have been made public through the federal prosecution of Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who was found guilty of sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Civil lawsuits involving Epstein, Maxwell, banks affiliated with Epstein, and the US Virgin Islands government have shaken loose even more records about his life. Various drips and drabs have also entered the public domain through Freedom of Information Act requests, government reports, and an inquiry from the Senate Finance Committee.

All of that may pale in comparison to what the Justice Department has in its possession.

OK, so what’s new here?

The Epstein Files Transparency Act requires the Justice Department to publish “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” about Epstein and Maxwell.

Those could include more emails and text messages, as well as internal prosecutorial records. The Justice Department has overseen two different criminal investigations into Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls. The first took place in Florida and led to a widely criticized deal where Epstein pleaded guilty to a single sex offense in 2008. The second was the Manhattan-based investigation, which led to Epstein’s 2019 arrest and Maxwell’s prosecution.

During Epstein’s 2019 arrest, the FBI searched his Manhattan townhouse and his home in the US Virgin Islands. In the process, they obtained more than 70 computers, iPads, and hard drives, along with financial documents and binders full of CDs.

Those seized materials form the heart of the “Epstein files,” which could shed even more light on the deepest, darkest secrets of the notorious pedophile. According to The New York Times, the FBI had already prepared 100,000 pages for public release before the Justice Department decided to keep them secret earlier this year.

That’s pretty wild. Is there anything else the Justice Department might release?

Yes! A whole bunch of stuff, including:

• Any deals between the government and Epstein associates, including non-prosecution agreements and sealed settlements.
• Records tied to Epstein’s death in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, such as transcripts of interviews with people in neighboring cells the night he died.
• Records into what has widely been criticized as a “sweetheart deal” for Epstein by Southern District of Florida prosecutors.
• Material surrounding calls victims say they made to the FBI as early as the 1990s about Epstein’s conduct, which did not lead to any known law enforcement investigation.
• Additional flight records from Epstein’s private jets.

That’s a lot? Is there anything the government isn’t releasing?

While the law requires the Justice Department to make its records publicly available, other federal agencies are off the hook.

The Treasury Department, for example, is in possession of more exhaustive records related to Epstein’s finances, including Suspicious Activity Reports some banks filed about his fund transfers. A separate bill proposed by Sen. Ron Wyden would force more transparency there.

The Federal Aviation Administration possesses flight records that it has so far kept from the public. And to the degree that intelligence agencies like the CIA or National Security Agency have anything, the bill doesn’t cover them.

Doesn’t the DOJ have loopholes to keep this stuff secret?

The Epstein Files Transparency Act permits the Justice Department to redact or withhold documents for victim privacy and for national security purposes.

‘National security’? That sounds fuzzy.

Well, sure, but there are limits.

Four people who have had access to the seized material previously told Business Insider that nothing in them indicated Epstein had any kind of domestic or foreign intelligence role. Nothing in the discovery process or court proceedings for Maxwell’s criminal case, which involved those records, indicated that there was anything of national security importance.

Furthermore, the Epstein Files Transparency Act requires all redactions to be accompanied by a written justification submitted to Congress.

The law specifically prohibits the Justice Department from withholding, delaying, or redacting any documents “on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.” It also requires the department to produce material “concerning the destruction, deletion, alteration, misplacement, or concealment” of Epstein-related records — meaning Congress wants to know if there are signs of a cover-up.

What about that new investigation I heard about?

A provision in the law allows the Justice Department to withhold records that “would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution.”

Days before the bill’s passage, Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into the links between Epstein and JPMorgan Chase, as well as a slew of perceived political enemies. Bondi handed the investigation over to the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.

But even if the Justice Department withholds any of those records from the public, it’s still required to hand them over to the House Oversight Committee, which subpoenaed them.

Any perceived attempts by the Justice Department to use this investigation as a shield could lead to backlash from both Congress and members of the public. A number of Epstein’s victims have pushed for the release of the files, seeking to understand more about the circumstances of their own abuse and the Justice Department’s handling of the case.