It’s that time of year again: The time of my husband, Justin’s, annual trip to watch Spring Training for baseball in Arizona while I stay home with the kids on a supposed “Staycation,” managing things, doling out warmly welcomed life-lessons, as is...
For weeks I’ve caught her wiggling that tooth out of the corner of my eye. My daughter Paige, now 12 years old, is nearing the end of her gap-toothed smiles. But this one tooth seems hesitant to go, and I’ve been telling her I’ll pull it for her, as...
Yesterday my husband couldn’t find something in the refrigerator. Shocker: It was right up front, almost touching his corneas. I don’t understand why this is a thing that seems to span class and education level. Nearly every wife I have talked to...
She had been having a hard time for days; Frustrated face, tears constantly threatening to brim her eyes. After several times of her answering “Nothing’s wrong! I’m just having a bad day for some reason,” I made a plan with her to take her ball and...
I often envy the parenting style of the 80’s and 90’s. Helicoptering was never a thing I intended, and yet, sometimes, I feel like here I am. I’m not sure how I got to the point of thinking I had to micromanage all of my teenager’s plans...
When it comes to the most intense parenting years, I would say I am in the thick of them. This is, of course, not including parenting age 3, which is in its own “war crime” category. Like the Voldemort of ages: We try not to speak of it. Right now I...
The words have hung inside me since you casually said them the other day. You, smiling over your shoulder at me, pleased. Me, struck in the gut by the realization of the weight of what you had just said. Things land differently on a mother’s than...
We missed an important email, and showed up late to indoor soccer this week. My 11 year old, Paige, looked at me with heavy disappointment. Her love of soccer is almost all she knows. I apologized to her, and checked my spam folder. Still not sure...
I’m sure it was because he was over hearing us go back and forth about it. My girls have grown tired of me always wanting to take photos of them. The fifteen year old will almost certainly be rolling or closing her eyes with her arms crossed in the...
In case my family looks at me with those confused expressions again when I say I am tired, might I present this as a short memoir; As a “cave drawing” of sorts. Somehow, my level of exhaustion never feels like a factor to them, even though they...