I grew up believing in magic, from faerie blankets at dawn to wishing on stars before bed. One of the most profoundly exquisite aches of parenting has been the distillation of beauty. There is a literal sensation of lived-joy seeping from my memory and infusing moment’s with the best of what I had, faint wisps [...]
It got off to an inauspicious start as we woke once again to the reality of my having broken our coffee pot. It really defies description the way a nearly imperceptible tap from the plastic cutting board severed the point of the coffee pot where the side and bottom meet. I kept meaning to go [...]
So much changes when you…
Move out.
Get married.
Become a parent.
Get divorced.
Come out.
No matter who you are or where you are, so much changes eventually applies. I’m working through some things as I go through the day, but suffice it to say that reading about cancer encircling the spine, lungs and legs put it all right back [...]
The girls are home. I cried while they were gone. A lot.
I walked past their bedrooms trying not to get caught up in the twisted sheets and discarded clothes all wrapped up in their summery scent of cut grass, lake water and cheesey-snack dust. Then the first morning without them came and the room pulled [...]
It began around 6. I was walking down the street and I began patting myself down, it was subtle at first. A tap to make sure my purse was at my side, a squeeze of the keys, then I touched my hip, my throat and then stopped to fully turn myself around and scan the [...]
I knew it would have to happen eventually. We flirted with it in principle, then it became more pressing, something that had to move beyond concept and actually take place.
I am, of course, talking about cutting Finley’s hair.
She turned 3 in late April and has never had a haircut.
How do you touch this?
Finally she turned [...]
Yesterday a friend from my Yakima days shared something on Facebook that I immediately felt was speaking directly to me. It said:
Love one another and you will be happy.
It is as simple and difficult as that.
~Leunig
I don’t write about it here very often because it seems like if you want to find tragic, angry, bitter [...]
A few months ago a promise was made, not just to myself or to Sean, we made the promise to all three girls. We committed to family time, real, honest-to-goodness family time. The three of them responded so immediately and so exuberantly that Sean and I were blessedly lifted up on to this incredible rush [...]
I never knew that five years could feel like a lifetime. I didn’t understand that at five years old certain things would just slip from your face and reveal so much. I shake my head remembering how you were the one I worried about the most. I was so scared that I wouldn’t be able [...]
I remember as a little girl, standing at the checkout in the grocery store and eyeing the simple print-outs with a fluttering heart. Those holiday coloring contests ignited in me a belief that anything was possible. I imagined that even though I’d never had the steadiest hand in class, I might submit the winning entry. [...]
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
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