The children had been home from a visit to their grandparents for less than twenty-four hours. I was in the kitchen and Everett joined me, having just finished petting the cat. Everett loves the cat. “Mom, have you ever wanted to just collect all of Minnie’s fur?” he asks me. No, I think. I, too, […]
Read more“You know, Dad, I’m only about a foot shorter than you.” This from William, in a sudden observation over pizza. “Yeah?” And Bill’s answer, though terse, is not offended. He smiles at William, and William smiles back. “So, that’s not very much.” “No,” Bill chuckles at William, “a foot is a lot.” “Yeah, but you’re […]
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We had pancakes for breakfast. Here, the boys and the mom are dressed and ready to go; Emma Grace is Just Up and still wearing her Superman pajamas. Some of us are happier about this than others….But for the most part, we are accepting the inevitable and are Trying Really Hard.Time to board the bus…. […]
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I come from a family of sailors. No, not the Navy kind. And not the America’s Cup kind. Just the kind that knows how to sail, and has a smallish boat, and appreciates the power of a good wind and the laughter of a salty splash and the pleasure of Not Running Aground. You can […]
Read moreHow is it that words published in 1872 can sound as if they were meant for me? I’ve recently finished reading George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin, the book that all Trinity School students and faculty were to read this summer. I read it aloud to my children, and they enjoyed it. I read […]
Read moreEvery one of my pregnancies seemed to last forever. With each one, in fact, I was certain that this would be a world record: a pregnancy stretching on for years, fluid retention and sleeplessness and a rotundity that ever so slowly continued to increase, and no baby at the end. Indeed, there was to be […]
Read moreSo I’ve just deleted that last post. I wrote it last night when my brain was very, very tired, and I reread it just now, and I hate it. So if you didn’t get to read it, I’m glad. If you did, I apologize for it. Meanwhile, the thrust of the post was to tell […]
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It’s hard to have a birthday two days after Christmas. You want to have a party, but it feels like nobody’s at home, and everyone is all gifted out, as it is—even the birthday boy. So it seemed, this year, that it would be a good idea to maybe start a new tradition and celebrate […]
Read moreThere were two lines for husbands in heaven. One line went on for what looked like miles. The sign above it at heaven’s gate read: “For Hen-Pecked Husbands.” The other line had only one man waiting. The sign above it read: “For Non-Hen-Pecked Husbands.” The latest arrival to heaven absorbed all of this and went […]
Read more“I wish I had a fast-forward, rewind, and erase button for my life.” This from Everett, seven and a half, sitting at the kitchen table and laboring over his writing exercises. I am standing at the counter, shaping a dinner out of left-over chicken soup, carrot-raisin muffins and, maybe, a spinach and peach salad. I […]
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