Emma: Mom? Me: Yes? Silence. Me: Yes? (with modified inflection, implying that I am waiting) Pause. Emma: Mom. Me: Yes? Emma: Mom? Me: Yes, Emma Grace, what is it? (And here you must understand that as soon as her voice broke over my hearing, my thoughts were suspended, waiting for what was coming. Who knows […]

I submitted my paper last night, the one I worked so hard on, the one that had me visiting –again and again– the special collections libraries at Duke and UNC this semester. The one I got back last week in draft form and my professor said was awful. The one I descended into the sub-basement […]

rps brought this beloved poem to my attention this morning. I had read it many times before, but hadn’t thought of it, really, as pertaining to advent. Now I do. The poem feels appropriate on this cold November day in Durham, when rain falls steadily and pastes leaves to the grass and wet pavement. And […]

So this morning Emma Grace and I were discussing hair color. She, ever wanting, for the time being, to be like me, wanted to color her hair brown. Brown. Imagine! She, whose hair flows beyond all reason from her head in the most stunning blond, wants brown hair. I Discouraged this. And anyway, I am […]

Emma Grace was getting dressed yesterday morning when it rolled out from somewhere– a marble. They are all over the house. I used to have them in a tidy leather bag I bought p. c. (pre-children) from American Eagle or some place like that. The boys have played with them occasionally, but since Emma Grace’s […]

We went to Emmaus Way (www.emmaus-way.com) last night, and there is never a time I come away from there that I don’t feel wrenched in some way, reminded as with something sharp of who I am and what I am to be. It is good. It is so good, always. This faith I share with […]

On Saturday evening, Bill and I attended the North Carolina Singer-Songwriter Final Competition. We did this because our friend, Karl Ruch, was one of the eight finalists. He was the best one. He really was. And we knew this before we heard the others perform, but his performance confirmed it anyway. He did not win, […]

I have two more weeks of class. Two weeks more, and then a wonderful break for the holidays, and then (gasp!) only one course left in this graduate program. That’s right. In May 2006, I will have completed all my coursework for my Masters degree. That sounds really good. It is hard to keep it […]

I was away all day. All Day. I left at 8 and didn’t get home until after five, and when I came home I was tired. Tired. Oh, so tired. It was a good day, an important day, a day talking about things I love, things I am passionate about, things I just might be […]

Everett can read. It has been a long process, and I wouldn’t say that I’m finished with it, but we’ve reached a place, a significant place, and I can say in all honesty that he can read. I taught William to read, and it felt like the milestone it is, just like teaching him, years […]