There was an initial heavy thud followed by three or four quick bangs before my college roommate, Katherine, landed at the bottom of our skinny wooden stairs, her long limbs askew. My other roommates and I ran to check on her. The other two quickly...
Tick tock, tickety tock. I recently “celebrated” a birthday…celebrated in quotey fingers because I’ve reached the point in life where birthdays feel kinda meh until your age ends in either a 0 or 5. Thirty-eight and feeling great? If you say...
The last month as a mother has emptied me of myself. It’s been the hardest one I think I have ever had. I am grasping tight to all that I know, but feel like I’m losing everything I’m fighting for right through my finger cracks. My girls’ mental...
Last week, I made a day trip to see my grandmother. It’s six hours of driving. I loathe driving. It is possibly one of my least favorite activities in all of the world. Additionally, my grandmother always wants to go to Wal-Mart when I go to visit...
I gingerly put my Mickey Mouse, the one that came all the way from Disney World, in my Strawberry Shortcake backpack and grabbed my Pac-Man lunchbox. I was very excited because it was the day of my first show and tell. There was no question that I...
I was just lifting my coffee mug to my lips, when suddenly my husband was leaning over to me, phone in hand. His eyes were big, and immediately searching my own. On his screen there was a message from a mutual friend of ours: “School shooting threat...
By 8:00 this morning I could just tell. I could see the look in her eyes every time they darted for a painful second to meet mine. All I had to do was ask her if she was OK, and before I knew it, she broke down crying. As I sat with her on the edge...
Having teenage daughters is much like having an Advent Calendar: Every day a new treat inside. Except, with this Advent Calendar, the drawers you open contain tiny scrolls that state which way you’ve embarrassed, upset, or made them frustrated today...
Before school even began I’d felt overwhelmed, to be honest, just from looking at the bell schedule alone. It really feels like parents have dealt with enough lately, doesn’t it? Distance learning, and Covid, riots, and shots, and now we are adding...
Their objective was clear from before school even started:Let no one ever know they owned jackets, or had a family here.My two middle daughters started high school last week,and, if ranked,I think those two things would have been their top cares. On...