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…
Goldilocks annoys the crap out of me. First of all, you can’t stumble upon a bear’s home or anyone’s home, and let yourself in when your knock is not answered. Who do you think you are? This little tale has been shared with generations of children. She even gets top billing— Goldilocks and the Three…
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…
I am not good at copying. Save the spot-on rendition of Everybody by The Backstreet Boys that my son and I perform in the car, I don’t do impressions. Simon Says was not my game. I either could not remember what Simon said, or forgot to ask. I rarely follow trends for any extended period.…
Poke is raw tuna cut into small cubes and mixed with different spices. My current favorite is dynamite because it has avocado. It’s a big deal in Hawaii and we have eaten it for lunch pretty much every day since we arrived on Kona. It’s delicious and so fresh here. But there are other restaurants,…
Last week it was decided we need a new mattress. I have learned many things as I have. . . aged. Yuck. I have learned many things as I have. . . cascaded through my years. No. I’ve learned a few things on my hopefully long walk toward the grave. Yes, that’s the one.…