Love Means Showing Up
In college, I had a literature professor who shared something very important with our class. After a discussion about a short story, she leaned against her desk and said, “I want to tell you something that took me countless hours and thousands of dollars to learn in therapy. Here it is: I am not my
There’s nothing like a trip to the Grand Canyon to put one’s life in perspective. I’d never seen the Grand Canyon before and was determined to get my family there this spring. It did not disappoint. People talk about the vastness of the canyon and how pictures don’t do it justice. They are right: vastness
It’s official—I’m getting weirder. I’ve started mailing family members prisms that they can hang in their windows so they too can have magical dancing rainbows on their walls. This is completely unsolicited; I’ve just decided they all need one. I recently added a large potted lemon tree to my bedroom because I’ve always wanted one
For the umpteenth morning in a row, I was knocking on my twins’ bathroom doors, reminding them that school started in ten minutes. I was hearing a lot of “I knoooowww, Mom!”, but I wasn’t seeing much progress. We were all frustrated and crabby. The moodiness of two thirteen year old girls getting ready for
I loved school recess when I was a child, but only certain activities. Since I wasn’t very coordinated, I tended to stick to jumping rope. Two friends would hold each end of a long jumprope and we’d all take turns lining up in the middle. The rope turners would count to three, tapping the jumper’s
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” Desmond Tutu This will surprise exactly no one, but I bought way too many daffodil bulbs. This past year, we moved from a “farmette” on four acres to an in-town house on a quarter of an acre. I ordered bulbs
Things have felt fragile to me lately. This includes, but is not limited to, our democracy, the mental health of our nation’s youth and young adults, climate change, friends’ marriages, family members’ health, manufacturing supply chains and, because of where I live, UGA’s chances for remaining undefeated this football season. Most things feel tenuous to
Last October, I sent out a Bat-Signal, asking for help. I was in a stuck place emotionally where I could only see the things that were broken. Some of my kids were having a hard time, the election was looming and life felt heavy. I knew I had so much to be thankful for, but
I learn so much from my friends who have kids older than mine, which is to say that I have very patient friends who answer my million questions about parenting. A few years ago, I asked a friend how she kept her older kids talking to her instead of shutting her out. “The loud, scary
I feel two emotions when I watch my son in plays or musicals and the curtain goes up at the start of the production. The first is nervousness for the cast and crew; the second is relief that the show is finally happening. The next few hours will be a surprise: I often have no