A glorious email from FRANCES today made me feel more human than I have in a LONG time. Let’s just say that Frances, mired in motherhood, had a stressful last few days. So thusly she hired a babysitter and took herself on a seriously needed, two-part Me-Date: first to The Mall, where she partook of…
Robert Sean Leonard’s Voice
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At 6:15 a.m., in the dark today, a voice came down through the wires and I felt it. I recognized it. It was the poetry of my youth, the angst I can only recall theoretically now. It was carrying on a sedan chair the missed opportunities (what could those be?) that I imagine each day dissolve into…
On 6 p.m., Friday… These Days
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These days, 6 p.m. Friday isn’t just the end of a week. It’s the sloughing off of another bit of heartache. It’s the another step up the mountain we are climbing, all of us in the weird extended family. And it is feeling the loose pebbles slithering under our shoes. On Friday, 6 p.m., I…
On Not Celebrating Halloween
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This will be the Year Without Jack-o-Lanterns. For religious reasons (not our own), Colin and I will be taking a hiatus from Halloween this year. “If [we] believe fully in the omnipotence of God, then concern about witches, ghosts and goblins, and things that go bump in the night, is misplaced. It is God alone…
Inside the Bell Tower
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I took this photo in May of 2007, which of course seems like about two weeks ago. We’ve been in this small state for almost two and half years and I see how time gets compressed–I’ve erased the afternoons and the mornings and the evenings and all that remains is the back and forth motion…
On Finding Things Lost…
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(… Things Which Did Not Know They Were Missing) An old friend found his way back to me tonight. I’ve sent him a note to say hello in the old fashioned way. I’ve emailed him. I wish I could have said that I used something a bit more archaically romantic– postcard or handwritten letter, but…
Things Going By.
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Here’s what’s spinning around, around so much I cant seem to keep myself still for a second to write one post per topic: 1. Ear infection, mine not theirs 2. Lonely, but too busy to feel it. 3. Harvest Festival coming. What am I doing? 4. School looming… Teach and mother at the same time.…
News Flash: Man Slaughters Women, Mom to Blame
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Straight up I can tell you the difference between men and women is epitomized in George Sodini, the American Media’s latest sweetheart. Here’s an attractive yet anti-social dude with some problems with women who used social media to record his issues, instead of getting the shrink he needed. This guy, who barely communicated to anyone…
A Send off From Momcentral.com
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Note: Version three of this blog post I am a huge admirer of Stacy DeBroff. This woman, the CEO of Momcentral.com, is a marketing genius and a fantastic business model built around one of her own passions– being a mom. And yeah, I’m a little jealous. She’s wildly successful, spending many early mornings with Matt…
A Long Way from Home
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On the road, in a car, weaving through the hills, we listened alternately to the sound of radio palpitating, or the body sounds the car spewed coughs or chuckles, the careening of hot tires communing with pavement. That tree flying is a Norway maple, twisting toward the sunlight– just the same as the one, still…
What Are You Looking For Here?
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What people think when they read this, if they read this, if they are not me, has no relevance. This is not written to tell a story about who I am. It is written to tell a story about the possibilities of humanity, and how people filter existence, from moment to moment. We all write…
Defining Blogger Integrity
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NPR visited BlogHer 2009 in Chicago this week and raised the issue of blogger ethics that I’ve been ranting about for years now (can you believe I’ve been blogging for YEARS? How weird is that?) The question is: If a blogger is receiving a product from a company to “review,” what incentive (if you haven’t…
A Dog in the House
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As the result of a good friend transferring overseas indefinitely, we are now the proud–if temporary– parents of a beautiful and wonderful dog named Kiyomi. If you are wondering what “Kiyomi” means, well, I am sure I asked her owner once, but had long-forgotten, so I had to Google it to find out. A Japanese…
A Brutal, Careless Thief
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There are planned activities and there is structure and routine. There are things to entertain and items to educate. There are chores for me and for him and for us. And there is the emptiness of an afternoon, the dreaded sameness of a day, like today and any other day. There are the people who…
Your Government, Your Lemon
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I overheard my brother-in-law refer to our current President as a “c*cksucker” during a recent stay at my parent’s house. This sparked a political dance/conversation on Facebook between myself and an old friend from high school. The curious bit about this conversation is that I haven’t seen this women since high school. I have no…
