Driving to the doctor’s office the other day, I saw it – our old home away from home. The toy park. Our once beloved, now forgotten spot that my daughter and I visited at least once a week for years, whiling away hours pushing plastic lawn mowers, ducking in and out of playhouses and going […]
You could find cars in the average junkyard that were nicer than the beaters parked in my family’s driveway growing up. There was the time my grandfather, for reasons unknown, removed the front passenger seat from my mother’s almost-antique Mustang. I loved it, because it revealed a rusted-out hole in the floor and we could […]
Babies have the best propaganda machine in the world. Look at this: Who could resist this stuff? Who could resist THIS? Meet Willow! She is the darling baby of my wonderful friends. Also, she’s a star recruit on the baby propaganda squad. Every time I see this kid, she’s either sleeping angelically or making feather-soft […]
The day was dazzling and I tried to rise halfway to meet it. Children’s laughter floated up into the air over the sparkling pool water as I drifted by on my daughter’s unicorn float. And right there, in the middle of Summer at the Pool: The Movie, the horrible little thought invaded like a demon […]
Of course it was a man without children who said it. “You just need to get up a few minutes earlier. Then you’d be here on time.” He said this, to chronically-running-behind-to-this-entirely-optional-activity me, the way you might tell someone the sky is blue or that they need oxygen to breathe. Poof! Simple solution. Except when […]
Skating and I fell in love in a vulnerable place. For me, that is. I get that it’s not reciprocal or anything. I’m not that far gone. How vulnerable was this place, you say? Well, back in my college years while being pummeled by depression, I also fell top-of-my-head-to-tips-of-my-toes in love with the person I […]
It’s a life choice that sneaks up on you, a strand at a time. Maybe it starts as a novelty – your first gray hair! Probably, you comb it back and forget about it. Probably, that works for years. You’re the only one who notices it, after all. Until you’re not. While my kiddo was […]
Our men were not allowed to be alone. They needed to be bodily escorted by at least three of us in order to interact with anyone outside the tribe. We did not touch people outside the tribe and we did not make eye contact with them. Simple rules. We all understood the rules. The problem […]
The small town kid works her tail off to get into the right school. Her newfound connections combine with talent and ambition and propel her like rocket fuel to the top of the world, where she enjoys a wildly successful career and a joyful family life. Of course she has all the resources and funds […]
Have you ever looked at your relatives’ style, then back at your own and been like, “Seriously genetics, whiskey tango foxtrot?” Myself, I’m a Frankenstein-ish combo of my design-loving mom and my raised-in-the-Depression-don’t-spend-a-dime-on-anything grandma, which is why I do nonsensical shit like carefully choose a birthday gift of a repainted vintage dresser and then fill […]