When most people hear the words "summer vacation," they probably think of beaches, travel, sleeping late, or projects postponed all year. My summer was different. I wrote a federal grant.

Well, technically, I wrote a federal grant - but there was definitely an "us" behind that "I." The grant became something of a third member of my family. After enough late nights, early mornings, and weekends, my wife started joking that I was having an affair with it. She had a point: For several weeks, I was spending more waking hours with the proposal than with her - and unlike my wife, the grant kept asking me to revise things.