December Dilemma

Dec 14

This year Christmas falls smack dab in the middle of Hanukkah.  This fact would have meant nothing to me as a child.  Now it means a lot… — Please click here to read the rest of this post, in which I wonder about how to instill a sense of wonder in my interfaith kids during [...]

6 comments Read the full article →

Bath Night

Dec 07

I balance awkwardly on the edge of the tub, my daughter sitting on my knee, lunging for the yellow duck just out of her reach. I turn on the faucet and let the water run into the white plastic basin with its baby-shaped contours. When my oldest – now four – was a baby, we [...]

36 comments Read the full article →

Baby Steps

Nov 30

On Sunday I sat on the floor in the living room, kids napping behind closed doors, my husband watching football, and went through piles of outgrown baby clothes. Like an intake nurse in the emergency room, I busied myself with triage: the impossibly small polka dot sleeper my eldest wore home from the hospital saved [...]

48 comments Read the full article →

Thanks Giving

Nov 23

This Thanksgiving, I am counting my blessings. I am thankful for my husband, for my kids, for my parents.  I am thankful for my friends. I am thankful for my health.  I am thankful to my body for growing a perfect baby girl this year. I am thankful for the chance to pursue my dream [...]

41 comments Read the full article →

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 [...]

9 comments Read the full article →

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. [...]

46 comments Read the full article →

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 [...]

84 comments Read the full article →

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 [...]

44 comments Read the full article →

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 [...]

42 comments Read the full article →

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 [...]

53 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →