The Wink

Find it

Friday night I had my first workout since the accident. My stamina has been virtually non-existent and I did not want to discover that I would have to go slowly. I’d been hesitant to strike out and really test my body to see if I could do it. Then it occurred to me that the longer [...]

Close Enough to Touch

School hasn’t even been in session a month and the change is palpable. I greet each day reminding myself it’s an accomplishment, but in truth, each day comes with a tinge of loss. The pudgy arms of my memory are replaced by sinewy, gangly limbs that hold for a second less than I expect. The [...]

Try

“You don’t understand.” “Yeah, but…” “No, I totally get it, but…” “Well, when I…” It doesn’t matter, the truth is, they might, it is, you don’t and maybe you shouldn’t. The reverberations of realizing the way things were when you thought you knew is sobering at best, humiliating at worst. I don’t think I’d say, “I wouldn’t change a thing,” [...]

Grooves of routine

Making the rounds, waking the girls, adding socks to outfits and tokens to backpacks reminds me of my childhood. I remember special things—Christmas concerts, spring morning field trips, last games of tag at sundown. I can almost smell the damp Eugene soil and hear the laughter of my childhood friends. It is exquisite to revisit [...]

Everyone and No One

It’s the first day of school and I’ve been reading posts by other parents all over the country with children in every grade imaginable. We are all standing on the same precipice and yet the truth is no one sees the same thing, no one feels the exact same searing panic laced with euphoria. It [...]

3,000 Miles

Even as we boarded the plane I couldn’t quite believe it was happening. We were bound for a West Coast visit, wedged tightly between a triumphant run of deadlines that brought new shades of silver to our hair and the start of school x3. My surprise to be truly on our way almost trumped my [...]