One of my first memories is of a bedroom I shared with my sister, next in line. There are five of us in the ‘siblinghood’ now, but at the time, there was only Kris and I. This bedroom, located in a small, sloped-roof home in Westfield, Maine, is forever fixed in my memory as one …
The old elm went deep, stretching twisted sinews ever downward, down through loamy, dark soil. Ever further, always searching. Seeking until finding that which was desired. Penetrating layer upon layer of sandy, coarse matter until the wooden talons finally obtained their probable rest. Reaching over and out toward the far reaches of the property line, …
Resilient. A word fraught with deep meaning and much complexity. For me, it signifies that one is faced with challenge and is able to withstand. It is about weathering the storm. Withstanding the pressure. Rising after the fall. It is how I feel most of the time, if I were being truthful. I often think …
I am not much for New Year’s Resolutions, as would be 2/3 of Canadians. Go figure. It appears I am in good company. However, two specific people, friends of mine, have unknowingly inspired me to write. That is, to write again. Without making much ado about this, shoving fanfare to the side (for if I …
Had not driven very far this evening in the Dodge, me being the sole occupant of the vehicle (so Sirius Satellite Channel 113 was my friend and faithful time-passer)…when CNN alerted me to the fact that a 100-year-old gentleman and his beloved, Sara, at 98, had been burned to death in California’s wildfires. Oh my …
There are so many moments in a life that go without noticing, but the moments I remember the most clearly, the ones that stick in my mind and are seared on my heart, are those moments in which I have shared a closeness, shared an intimate moment with a significant other. A touch of the …
Your children are still at that stage of life where they want YOU and you alone.
Sometimes in the scheme of life, it is hard to remember that our lives are filled with days and our days are filled with moments. Small moments, at that. Sometimes it is the smallest of moments that we overlook in our quest to conquer the larger ones. We forget what it was like to eat …
I don’t know whether Pinterest has failed me or enabled me. The jury is still out. A “while” ago… (which is to say, “longer than I would like to admit….”. Pffft.) (And this is embarrassing, because what I am about to describe is “a fall harvest project from a few years ago” kinda longer.) (Uh-huh: …
The one thing students really need on any given day may not actually be contained in the words written down on paper — those goals for the day typed out on a lesson plan or scrawled out on paper. No, it might not be the planned numeracy lesson or literacy centre that meets them where …
Dear Tired Mama: You wonder if it will ever get better. Wonder, too, if there really is a light at the end of the tunnel. Wonder incessantly if you will ever have energy again. All while you also wonder if you ever will see a semblance of your former self again. You are so exhausted. …
“It’s too hard,” he says looking at me with big brown eyes. Shoulders already slumped in defeat. I assure him he can do this, but I do know that in his mind: the task before him appears beyond reach. Outside the limits of capability. Like climbing a treacherous mountain. It’s monumental, this undertaking. And certainly …
