These days, it feels like the world crumbles around us. The headlines scream, and chaos grows more and more. Every day, there is more harm and destruction: Online hatred, brother against brother, and, suddenly, we find ourselves at war. Some nights...
When my youngest daughter, Paige, was in kindergarten, she came home from school looking defeated one day. Later, as I cleaned her backpack out, I came to understand why more clearly: At the bottom of her tiny Dory bag, I found a crumpled-up flash...
My husband, Justin, is a real lightweight when it comes to two things: Spicy food and too late of a bedtime. He works at 2:45 am every morning, and usually goes to bed by 6:30 pm because of it. He can barely make it through taco seasoning without...
Driving to an appointment today, I spotted a White Egret standing alone on a small patch of land that sits sandwiched between two sides of the highway. It was striking to see such a lovely bird there, in the tall, marshy grass, yet still so close to...
I can picture it as vividly as if it were happening now: Metal desk, giant green screen computer, notebook paper pad. I had a 4×6” photograph of the neighborhood. It is the neighborhood I would later come, once again, to live in. I was about...
She calls me “My Sweetie.” Sometimes it’s “Baby.” Her chubby hand and dimpled knuckles pat my arm. I have loved being a grandmother to Mavis from the very first second I saw her red-faced in the delivery room, just like I knew I would, but I’m...
When my mom moved back to my town 3 years ago, I was elated. She had lived with my brother and his family for several years, hours away, and I had deeply missed her. I was thrilled to have her back around my girls and me, thrilled to think of things...
Two nights ago, as I watched The Pitt on HBO, there was an episode that involved a dad bringing his son into the ER because he had stuck two beads up his nose. I watched in mild amusement. I’d never had to deal with that kind of thing with my own...
My youngest turned 14 today. She has always been a fiery one. Though she is taller and more mature now, I know at least that spark in her will never change. Paige was born at 5:00, on the nose, on a Friday: “Party time and Quitting Time,” we always...
I made cookies this week; “Mom’s cookies,” the kids call them. Plain gluten-free chocolate chip. Nothing fancy, really, but I wanted something sweet, so I set the oven to preheat, and started to mix. I know the recipe by heart at this point, and as...