Posts tagged “Avery

Boots of a Different Color

Posted on May 15, 2012

My memory is shaky on things like birthdays and holidays. They almost always seem to sneak up on me in some way that requires me to feign awareness—”Oh, of course I have green things for each girl to wear and little leprechaun top hats,” and “Oh, sure, big doin’s for the holiday weekend. Been planning for months.” I have the best intentions, but the dealine to sign up for things and the second Monday of each month just seem to slip through my fingers. I’ve read beautiful posts by people who would appear to have their acts together—birthday posts right on their children’s birthdays, essays on topical subjects before they cease to be topical. I’ve passed storefronts beautifully decorated to perfectly celebrate the season, when…

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My Sweet Chaos

Posted on July 22, 2011

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 me in. I ran my fingers along the blocks they’d connected. “Mom, did you see how we made rooms and how the ones sticking out by the planet come together and make a chair? You make chairs with blocks, so we did it like you. Do you love it most of all?” I stood inside the block kingdom and let the sunlight that had drawn me in wash…

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Five at last

Posted on May 15, 2011

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 to love you as much as Briar, that somehow coming second left less excitement and wonder. I was so wrong. Once you were born it was easy to slip right into worshipping you. All of us—Dad, Briar, me. We couldn’t get enough of your sparkly smile, the special sound of your voice and the way you knew how to do things so soon. All of my worries disappeared as…

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Daisy of my heart

Posted on August 2, 2010

Around Mother’s Day I was given a Gerber Daisy plant. It was something we did for all the moms in the office. They brought instant smiles with their thick green leaves and bright blooms. I took mine home and set it on the window in the kitchen. It was a bright spot in the dust and mayhem of moving. The plants in the office slowly, one-by-one died. I took a closer look at mine at home and noticed it was failing. Refusing to give up, even in the weeks that followed when it teetered on the brink of shriveling, I watered it. Some days I talked to it. Our move was incremental, with many trips going to the storage unit, others to the dump…

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