I wake up before 6:00 a.m. to a child stealing my pillow and a husband snoring. Happy Mother’s Day, 2012. I crawl out of bed to ready for the day of festivities…birthday present openings and birthday breakfast for the ten-year old, phone calls, church, dinner out, visits with family, church again, lesson planning for tomorrow, …
Not long ago, a friend mailed me a letter that contained two sheets of paper. On one sheet, was an article titled The Meanest Mother in the World, and on the other was the letter writer’s note to me which can be summarized with this one sentence: “Nice to know that being ‘mean’ is not …
My “adopted” mother was an elegant woman with immaculate nails and gorgeous ebony skin. She and her father lived in a neighborhood on the far side of town where they owned a little piece of land that boasted lush flower gardens and a bountiful vegetable garden. I came to live with Alice when I was …
The piano is a baby grand. It stands majestic at center stage, ready for young pianists to strike its ivory keys. An intimidating creature, its presence dominates and casts a spell interchangeably. We take our seat in the church pews after the second class finishes. We wait. Fortunately, we have arrived in time to hear …
Just a note…some of this is a re-print from an earlier blog I wrote, and some of it are new thoughts I had on the same subject that I wanted to add on! Feel free to comment… My daughter and I sit on her bed. We have just finished reading her two bedtime stories, her …
Rushing, always rushing. I grab a bag of snacks and wait impatiently the three minutes it takes the corn to pop. My oldest daughter opens the side door of our house and hollers that one child is pulling another’s hair inside the van. It will be an all-out brawl if I don’t get out there. …
I was cleaning up after supper, when he suggested that we sit out on the veranda for coffee. I turned around and saw the box of chocolate truffles waiting as an invitation for something more, a date with my husband on the porch swing. I could feel the excuses surfacing…remnants from supper lay hardening on …
She is finally asleep, that little ball of energy, my spitfire. A half-dozen times, I have lost count now, my baby girl calls for me to do one thing or the other, always stalling for time. It is a battle, sleep does not come easy for her. I hear nothing for a glorious stretch of …
I am standing at the back of Coles book shop, my head buried in an interesting new read I have found tucked in between a few other books on discipline. The book happens to be Bringing Up Bebe, by Pamela Druckerman, her controversial book on how the French parent differently than their American counterparts. I …
Funny stuff kids said to me today (at school and at home): Me: “Little girl, I love your long hair. Did you ever cut it before? Little girl: “yeah, my mom cuts it with a knife (illustrates with a whiplash effect with her hand) And another… Me: “What does your Dad do?” Little Boy: …
A while back, I had a chat with a mother friend of mine who is a bit older and wiser than I am. She shared with me that when her kids were growing up, she always had felt she was a bad mother. She had a daughter that she would constantly butt heads with and …
My mother and I were talking on the phone last night, and I moved from room to room doing my “end-of-the-evening” tidy up. As it was time for my son’s bedtime, I went in to his room to say goodnight and tuck him in, all while I had the phone neatly perched in between my …