The Five Year Plan

Nov 16

My sister-in-law visited this past weekend and, in the midst of chatting about important things like the kids, plot developments on Grey’s Anatomy, and her new puppy (I’m not a dog person, but this little guy?  Cute.  Very cute), we got to talking as we often do about our short-term, long-term plans – where we see ourselves in [...]

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The Honor System

Nov 09

Last week I was talking on the phone with a friend who recently moved away from our small Midwestern town.  We were catching up on the start of the school year and her family’s adjustment to life in a new place, sharing stories about the different customs that seem to be attached to different communities. [...]

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Two Years

Nov 02

You are a young woman. You are a middle-aged man. You are childless. You are a mother of five. You live in Cambodia. You live in Chicago. You are a marketing professional. You stay at home with your kids. You want to be a writer when you grow up. I met one of you in [...]

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Piles

Oct 26

Lately I feel like my life consists of piles. On the ledge next to the staircase: triaged mail.  Thank you notes to write, bills to pay, correspondence that needs attention. On the kitchen counter: child art work.  The preschool apple unit, the bear unit, the pumpkin unit.  Worksheets with handwriting practice.  The number 1, the [...]

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The (Bargain) Price of Freedom

Oct 19

On Sunday afternoon, I bought myself 60 minutes of Freedom. I clicked on a small icon on my desktop – a clock with a shield in front of it. A pop-up window appeared and asked, as if it were the simplest matter in the world: How many minutes of freedom would you like? Hmm, I [...]

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The Waiting Game

Oct 12

I am bad at waiting. And there’s good reason for that, I think.  Indeed, there is a way in which my whole pre-parenting life was an exercise in gaining independence and then control over my life.  I followed my parents’ rules and my teachers’ directions.  I studied hard and got the job I wanted.  I [...]

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The Woman on the Bike

Oct 05

I see her every time I run. While on the homestretch of my workout, I see the woman on the bike approaching from the other direction.  Sometimes I even hear her before I see her, the sound of her slender wheels cutting through the water on the trail announcing her approach.  Her chin-length hair curls [...]

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A Song of Myself

Sep 28

Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) – Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” I spent this past weekend at a remarkable place, studying with a remarkable teacher, with two remarkable women by my side.  I learned so much about myself, about writing, about the ways my body [...]

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The Write Stuff

Sep 21

I’ve been writing a lot lately. Actually, that’s not true at all. I’ve been thinking a lot about writing and talking a lot about writing and reading a lot about writing.  I’ve even been studying writing with a great teacher.  But sitting down and actually writing?  Not so much. And this not writing all the [...]

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The Quickie vs. the Slow Burn

Sep 14

I love  spending the last hour before sleep curled up with a book.  Few things stir my soul like a good story and a well-turned phrase.  And when those things coexist in the same book?  Magic.  I recently enjoyed two books filled with both, even though the feel of them was completely different. Most summers [...]

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