I am so grateful to be at home. I love seeing how the sun falls in the breakfast room in a silent house at 2 p.m. on a September Wednesday. I love having the laundry done, so that kids who dirtied their uniforms only yesterday have them spanking clean and ready to go today. I […]
Read moreor “Mother,” Part II It shouldn’t be so hard. Really, on paper, it looks for all the world like it makes sense. Which isn’t to say that I’ve actually written it down. I haven’t actually recorded on paper my Plan For The Day. But I do have a Plan. I have a Plan that should […]
Read moreThe day was looking good. Kids breakfasted and lunches bagged, they went off together to school. I had only one item on my calendar before the late afternoon’s rash of meets/games/matches, and yes, it appeared that a good writing day was ahead of me. An excellent writing day. I love those. Writing is, after all, […]
Read more“First sentences are doors to worlds.”—Ursula K. LeGuin Last night was Will’s first soccer game of the school year. It’s still more than a week before the first day of school, but soccer has been underway for a while now. Yesterday’s game felt familiar: the boys tore up the field and all of us parents […]
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Once upon a time, I wanted to be Mary. The Santa thing never really took hold in me so much as Mary’s story did, and I would imagine myself to be her: thirteen or so, pregnant, sitting side-saddle on a saddle-less donkey, making my loping way toward Bethlehem. I was a dramatic child, drawn to […]
Read moreHeedless Perhaps we love the shore because the debris here could not be ours no matter how hard our lives. Or because the long shelf of land continues on under the water so even here at the edge of the world the edge is uncertain. Perhaps we love that the water rises to uncertain levels […]
Read moreFor the two basketballs and the soccer ball that (seem to) (always) live in my dining room… For the 9-10 pairs of shoes that (occasionally and for far too long) linger near our front door (how many pairs of feet live in our house?)… For too much time in Party City and too much time […]
Read moreHow surprisingly easy it was to ignore him! What I was letting rip, in fact, was my willingness to look foolish, in his eyes and in my own. Having chosen this foolishness, I was a free being. How could the world ever stop me, how could I betray myself, if I was not afraid? It […]
Read moreFlush ice cubes down the toilet (as many as possible)Throw carrots out the window (preferably in the direction of the school)Place spoon under the mattress (the bigger, the better)Place a quarter under your pillow (heads up)Dance around a snowman candle (for as long and as wildly as possible)Wear your pajamas inside-out (no further explanation needed)Sleep […]
Read moreMay is here and, indeed, is already more than half gone. May in North Carolina means green everything, trees in full leaf, and the roses along my fence blooming in abundant frenzy. And it also means– again, in North Carolina– heat. Generally speaking, this time of year means the warmest of my dress-clothes for work. […]
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