On Their Own
They had a plan. My oldest daughter, Sam, who was just shy of twelve at the time, and a neighborhood buddy wanted to go on an adventure, a mile-long walk to the ice cream shop that had just opened down…
Oh, Babies!
Born to bear! is what my dad used to say about me, the youngest of his five daughters. And although it embarrassed me a little (I liked to think I had at least a few other things going for me),…
There Will Be Breasts
The fact that I’m still alive and that I have breasts. These are my risk factors for the cancer that nearly 41,000 women in Virginia were diagnosed with last year alone. When it comes to some of the other things…
Memory Game
We were a ping-pong family. My mother had her own paddle that she stored in a velour drawstring pouch. My dad had a top-spin on his serve that made it nearly impossible to return. These are very clear memories from…
Parenting Nugget
Last fall, my husband and I marked twenty years of wedded-ness and to celebrate we ate gator nuggets in Everglades City. No small feat, twenty years together, so we planned this trip to Florida for just the two of us…
Resolution Revelation
I am not one for making resolutions. For me, the whole thing feels like a cloud hovering over my head until it finally dissipates, just in time for Lent, when I can repackage the same basic pledge. You might think…
How Christmas Works
Christmas is a lot of work. This is news to absolutely no one. Especially moms out there reading. And single parents. And dads who split holiday-making and child-rearing duties fifty-fifty with their partners. (Which means it’s only half as much…
Into the Box this Christmas
How did that whole baby-proofing story play out at your house? This can be quite a thing for parents, especially if one of them reads way too much and the other has access to entirely too many tools. Sound like…
Duly Noted
Some of the most smile-inducing parenting memories I can conjure up involve meeting my kids in an elementary school cafeteria for lunch. There’s something about elementary school that announces to us parents, You are welcome here! Yes, most teachers…
The Same Sky
At a back-to-school night what seems like eons ago, my oldest daughter’s science teacher explained his trademark assignment. Every nine weeks, the fifth-grade students would be required to read a magazine article, something science-related and timely, to help them…
