I might just be the world’s worst hospital advocate for my sickish children. Not to say I always was: just saying that with age and experience also comes both insanity and exhaustion. And deterioration. Mental breakdown. Brain cell reduction. Which is to say that I think my brain has (obviously) lost a little of its …
What is it about falling snow that captivates the imagination like nothing else I know? What is it about the first snowfall of the season- and the next and then the next that just creates a feeling of contentment and joy? That fills a heart with gladness. What is it about falling snow that just …
There are some things I cannot change. Even if I tried. I cannot change my nightly routine of making my way into all my children’s bedrooms, smoothing back hair with the palm of a hand, kissing damp-haired foreheads in the shadows of a dimly lit room. I cannot change that. I cannot change that I …
This was me last night at supper. Or rather. This was me SANE last night at supper (politely asking for a pat of the yellow stuff, since I had been so kind to make the meal): “Could someone pass the butter, please?” Din of voices. Outright, blatant ignoring of the Mother Lode. General mayhem. And …
There is a problem with the church today- a problem that runs deep and wide and long. It’s created a chasm actually and an exodus. It’s a problem sourced by a history of church practices and traditions that serve to verify its authenticity as real and overt. It’s a problem all right. And that problem …
I believe we are in desperate times, people. And desperate times call for desperate measures. And so it is with great verve and energy that I issue a battle cry for action. It is time we took back what is rightfully ours, families of the world. It is time we re-claimed our rights to that …
I feel strongly compelled to write about an issue that is hitting me square between the jaw, as I am a mother of three young girls as well as a teacher who interacts with girls of many different ages each and every day. Body image. It is something that young girls begin thinking about as …
Board games were invented with the sole purpose of driving parents crazy. (This parent, that is. I won’t speak for the rest of the world.) As if I wasn’t there (…in crazy world) already. It’s Friday night. I just played a game of Book Lover’s Memory Match with my two youngest- a game meant to …
I heard from a man-friend of mine tonight that I don’t really write with a male audience in mind. So this one’s (mostly) for the boys. For the men. I want to write about everyday heroes. Because tonight in West Prince, where I live with my family of six, there are some men (and yes, …
If you are wondering, you probably don’t have to worry. You are doing just fine. In fact, you are doing better than fine. You’re rocking this gig. Trust your instincts. Believe in yourself. You’re a great Mama. I get impatient with people who make comments about parents saying things like, “I think they are a …
We’re driving. The road, a seemingly endless stretch of gray in front of us. There’s certainly not much to see on either side. And I am bemoaning to the Boy the fact that all the leaves have fallen off the trees. It had been so pretty, I say to him, just a week or so …
I am scraping out the innards of a huge spaghetti squash with a spoon. Yellow fibers and white seeds accumulate in a soft pile on my cutting board. I work purposefully- around and around. The more I scrape, the easier I can see the pale yellowish sides of this fleshy melon-shaped gourd. It is cathartic, …
