The Wink

Protecting Hope

My life today is so vastly different than I expected it to be and yet, there cannot have been another life for me. These girls, this man, these moments. It isn’t always easy, but we have fun with one another and try to focus on how we improve, rather than how we fail. Right now [...]

Wordless Wednesday

Who’s that girl?

Ever since a boy in Avery’s pre-k class destroyed, or at least put a major chink, in her love of navy blue and superheroes, I’ve been incredibly mindful of how I manage self. How exactly does one raise daughters without letting the pendulum of self swing too far to one side or the other? I [...]

Sleepless

“I can’t sleep.” It floats down from their room often; the voice behind it is always Briar’s. It’s never Avery, for her sleep comes like breathing. Sometimes Finley chimes in that she can’t sleep either, but she doesn’t mean it. Finley chooses not to sleep. She squeezes a bit more out of the day and then [...]

Durable Ribbons

Every once in a while I hesitate about a post. I learned a long time ago that some things, even though they are a part of my life, are not mine to tell. Still,  I’m pretty honest here, though there is an increasing awareness of how proprietary some of this is getting as the girls [...]

Away we go

School is back in session and it is as if we are all poised at the top of a roller coaster ride. I have no idea what’s in store, but I am already keenly aware of how much things have changed. Where once there were two, there is now one and two where just one [...]

The Constant

It doesn’t matter where you live or who you love. Every single day there is something to be grateful for in your life. Remember that always.

And just like that, she did it.

As always seems to be the case, the milestone snuck up on me, I didn’t comprehend that we were slipping through a window in time. I woke to the hissing that is little girls attempting to whisper. “Here, right heeeer. Psst, Ave, like this you can do it.” Followed by rustling, clanging and thundering tiptoes. “Briar? [...]

Kick. Stroke. Glide.

We were holding hands as we dove beneath the surface. “You ready, mama? One, two, three,” and Briar squeezed my hand. My head tucked, I threw my back toward the surface and drove my legs into the water as I pushed us below. Once we were under her grip loosened and I watched her body [...]

The World Keeps Spinning

I put aside a lot today to just allow the kids to run with friends. The whole group needed to cut loose and they did. I watched them attack the opportunities and leave behind the whining, I-can’ts and no-fairs. I tried to do the same thing. I set my worries in a figurative crucible, it [...]