Lately I yearn to be done with striving. Wouldn’t it be nice not to strive, I think. Just who am I striving for? Often I find myself striving for my family. And this is good except when it isn’t. Except that they all can strive for themselves. When my tween is sick and her teacher […]
Category: Parenting
She’s Turning 14
You know what? When your daughter’s almost 14, there no holy crap she’s a teenager. There’s more, oy vey with a swear word in between she’s almost ready to leave. Except she’s not. She’s still her baby self when she’s sick, especially on the weekends when she’d like to be hanging out with her best […]
The Eternal Motherhood Cunundrum
I watch Jada Pinkett Smith get fierce on camera about what it means to be a mother in this world. How we put ourselves last. About how we are expected to put our children first, our husbands second, and ourselves last. I watch her daughter listen contentedly. I think about how her daughter has been […]
A Safe Place Called Home
A few years ago I was beautifully and impossibly stuck in grief. Why would I use the word beautifully? Goodness, that’s ridiculous and insanely weird. What’s beautiful about all those tears that streamed down my face as I pushed this rock that I thought of as my daughter’s learning issues up a hill? She repeated […]
The Dance
Oh, week three of the school year and we are still finding our way. As the public schools strike and I try not to cry every time I drive by the picket lines, my family has been getting used to the new stresses of our new schedule. I won’t bore you with the details. But […]
Let’s Go Fishing
Have you ever been 150 feet away from an eagle as it dives down and pulls its prey from Puget Sound? Have you ever sat in your husband’s tiny boat and clapped because you were there for the wildlife show? After years of hearing about fishing and firmly saying no every time my husband asked […]
Full of Summer
It’s August 10th, and summer is not slowing down or cooling down. This is always the time of year when I’m both sad that the school year looms ahead and I’m also losing my mind because summer is not slowing down or cooling down. I’m frantically creating memories for my rapidly growing children while barking […]
Ask and the Teacher Shall Appear
I’m always looking for teachers. I always think the next wise person is right around the corner. Heck, I interview experts for a living. Even as I know my own expert lives right in side of me, I still continually ache for an outsider to help light the way to me. To my interior self […]
Kindness Wins
I keep thinking about the idea of how kindness wins. Years ago when my kids were young — maybe one in early elementary and one late preschool — my best friend from childhood visited us. Afterwards we texted each other with lists of what was transforming about our time together. My friend said she noticed […]
Filling in at the Preschool
Well, poetry month is over but I’m still smitten with this form, of course. How’s that for a sentence with too many words? I can’t resist fitting words into a poetry format and sharing them with you. Instead of a rambling essay today, I’ve read some Faith Shearin for inspiration and written this. Since February […]