The sun burns hot, the trees are still vibrant green, and the garden is still producing its bounty of harvest. By all accounts we appear to be in the throes of mid-summer. But July it is not, and we know it. The end caps at the stores are laden with school supplies, the sunset comes [...]
Full Story »
We stood on the dock, while my oldest son shot shaving cream into the boots of the skis and used his own strength to push my feet into the boots. Then, I stood on the dock and I cried. My legs felt as if they were in traction — I could not walk. Again, the [...]
Full Story »
By 9 p.m. Thursday, I had not a drop of inspiration for my newspaper column, due at 9 a.m. the next morning. Then, a snippet from a conversation that night carried the article –all she said was, “And we have graduation parties next weekend…” Then it hit me. I was looking for a way to [...]
Full Story »
I have a weakness. I drop the names of my children, slowing letting the quantity slip out the way movie stars might brag about the jewelry they keep locked in a safe, just to impress people. I learned early from my Mother that conspicuous consumption, as fun as it might be to acquire, was something [...]
Full Story »
The trouble with this toy is not its fragility; nor in its impracticality, even given the fact that it will be played with little boy hands that squeeze too hard, and get things, naturally, dirty. The problem with this toy is what it steals from me in quality time. What it gives us in tears [...]
Full Story »
Sandwiched between long hours of sleep deprivation and the hopelessness that came when I realized there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop my baby from crying, I longed, for the first time in my life, to smoke a cigarette. The hacking cough that would have accompanied the puffs eluded me, because I never [...]
Full Story »
After dinner, I stood at my kitchen sink, looked west to the backyard to see the sun shinning and the rain pouring down. Water was streaming down in straight sheets, dancing in the glittering sunlight. Next, I turned my head to look to the front of the house, the spot where I’ve seen rainbows before, [...]
Full Story »
My father’s hands wore blisters. Blisters that should have been mine; and would have been mine if I had been better at slicing the earth with the shovel. There’s a knack to tearing up sod; once you hit that sweet spot that just grazes the roots, you can easily lift the sod up in sheets. [...]
Full Story »
Every time I ask, they always say, “nothing good happened today.” But, I sit with my pen in hand, notebook open, and I wait. When they realize there’s no getting out of this exercise, they stare at me for awhile, their mind totally blank, and then begin with something like, “I played basketball at recess.” [...]
Full Story »
