At dinner time two nights ago, my two high school daughters told a hilarious tale: School elections had been coming up to decide who would be class president next year. Two of the kids running were the ones that you’d typically expect. You know, the...
When the fall of 2020 came, rather than risk all those dreaded zooms again, I pulled my youngest out of her school and have since been homeschooling her instead. In the beginning I thought it would be more temporary, because, let’s face it, I know...
My mom’s handwriting, even after all this time, is still as recognizable to me as my own. Mama’s handwriting, I always felt, was indicative of who she was, well, when she was in a good way – pretty and neat and comforting. I have little notes...
It was her 15th birthday. We drove out to Sonoma to spend the day, passing through vineyards, and the shadows of trees; Their light flickering, as if the whole earth shared a pulse. She had only asked to bring her boyfriend and his mom along. She...
Sometimes in life you live out a story you’re sure you will never be able to forget. For Christmas, all my husband, Justin, and son-in-law, Aaron, wanted were tattoo gift certificates. I thought those would be easy enough gifts, and, thankfully...
Between sips of Folgers from their lipstick rimmed styrofoam cups, my grandmother and some of her sisters held court and gossiped mercilessly from their middle pew in the funeral home chapel. One particularly tearful woman caught the worst of...
It feels like this cycle has become our way: She does well, she is smiling big, she talks freely about her day, but then the tendrils of anxiety start to edge out of the dark cracks, and try, once again, to ruin everything. Before long we are back...
We both have old eyes, eyes that have seen too much. Sad brown eyes that glint with golden flecks – when the sun hits them just right. And, our hair. goodness, do we have great hair. People assumed that because we both looked back at them with...
Yes, it’s a new year, but it has been a worn-thin last couple of days. Keep going, keep doing, act like I can handle everything. So many emails from the school, jolting along in a covid test pick-up lane, hearing, “What’s the name of your student?”...
I cannot exactly say that I am surprised. One of my very first memories is of the time our pet racoon got out of his cage, and roamed free. I was probably only a toddler then, but have a very vivid memory of watching it grab a banana for itself and...