Seven months. Articles and books talk about this “transition,” from raising children to parenting around the edges, but it seems to be different for everyone. Every child. When my first daughter went off to make her own life, I was a bit lost, and my heart ached, but I was raising two other people. Distraction…
I bought my children new shoes for the first day of school and when they returned after winter break. Twice a year. Every year. In the budget or beyond the budget, they had new gleaming white tennis shoes as they marched into class for a new and improved quarter, semester, year. There were years Michael…
There have been moments in my life when I have missed the joy. Raising three children can be a blur of responsibility, expectation, and endless compromise. While there are lazy Sunday moments, so much of it is confusing, terrifying, and exhausting. It would be foolish to say that I packed every lunch with care…
The goal was to write a blog post once a week and I failed. No lives were taken, no money lost. Just a mental game I played with myself that didn’t work out. Oh well, there’s always next week to get it right. My daughter turns twenty-four on Saturday. She’s at that age where…
My daughter is in London on a school trip. She comes home tomorrow. It was Saturday evening before I’d heard the news of the London Bridge attack. We had already received an email from her chaperone about the fun they’d had that day and that they were back in their hotel room. I called her…
First. Middle. Last. There’s a tremendous emphasis on order in our world. Like everything else, I’m sure there are pros and cons for each position but there is no denying that first is the winning position. First on the moon, yes. Last on the moon, not so much. First wife, last wife. Even first child has a…
I don’t think my daughter ever played dress-up. She had some gypsy stuff and leftover Halloween costume props that would surface as perfectly acceptable school accessories, but she never walked around in my heels or wanted to wear my work clothes. Now I know why. Katlyn is my oldest and today she turns twenty-three.…
When I was in grammar school I played the flute. I also played for a semester my freshman year in high school, but that was just a last ditched effort to pad my college application. Didn’t count. Third grade flute playing is what really stands out. I rented my flute. It was in a hard black case and…
Less is seldom more. My son will move out of our house and into his college dorm next week. He drives me nuts. He’s been what they call a “challenge.” Loud, self-absorbed, and crazy moody. He still eats in his room, still tries to sidestep chores or responsibility, still runs at full speed and scares the crap out of me. He’s arrogant and selfish…