Category: Parenting
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In Defense of Mother’s Day
This morning, I was thinking about Mother’s Day. This is unsurprising, because today is Mother’s Day. This year I think I have encountered more counter-culture reactions to Mother’s Day than I have in past years. It seems like a few crept in each year, but this year I encountered more of them than usual. I…
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Let It Go
I did not name this post “Let It Go” after that song in Frozen. That freaking song that started out fine, but which has started to feel like it’s growing on me like a fungus I cannot get rid of. We listen to that song approximately 8 times a day, and I think the singer’s soprano gets…
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Intimately Connected
Tonight I went to a Maundy Thursday service at my church. This day commemorates the Last Supper, when Jesus broke bread with his disciples and washed their feet in a final act of service before his death. I have gone to a Maundy Thursday potluck before, where I ate church food and talked to nice…
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It’s Broken
Every now and then I am struck by stupid grief. This morning, I went out into my sunny garden to stretch a bit. I found a plastic container out there, one that my ex had written “baby oatmeal” on. And it broke my heart. It’s been years since this container held baby oatmeal but I…
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In Response to Slate.com
A few weeks ago, I enjoyed reading “My Life Is a Waking Nightmare,” by Ruth Graham on Slate.com. She wrote from the perspective of a childless person who is encountering what feels like a new wave of parenting articles, spoofs, and blogs–including my post, “So You Would Like to Have Three Children.” In short, Ms.…
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Badge of Beauty
Among the many tasks in my home that should be done daily (maybe several times a day) and yet are done…Weekly? I hope? When did I last do that?…is cleaning off my dining room table. Tonight, I have a moment. Rolling up my sleeves, I wipe off the crumbs and then spray the table down.…
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Whodunnit?
This morning, like most mornings, I woke up. I looked at my phone, turned off my alarm, answered some texts from a friend about how he likes to cook cabbage and brussels sprouts, and rolled over–into something. Oh no, I thought. When you have pets, rolling over into mystery substances or objects is usually not…
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Selah’s Moment of Fame
My daughter Selah knows her classics. OK, so she knows a kid version of one classic: Beowulf.* When I worked for Ink&Paper Group, a publishing company in Portland, Oregon, Ink’s comics/graphic novels imprint published the first Kid Beowulf graphic novel. Selah was only about one year old at the time. I had a copy of the…
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Sweet and Sour, Black and White
I don’t think of myself as a black-and-white thinker. I try to avoid categorizing people according to bipolar terms like “good” and “bad.” Some things are both a blessing and a curse. There isn’t always a right and a wrong; there isn’t always a victor and a loser. However, somehow in parenting, I think I…
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Listen to Your Mother Call for Submissions
Last year, I got to participate in Sacramento’s first Listen to Your Mother live reading. At a Writers Who Wine evening out, Margaret Andrews gave me a little slip of paper saying they were seeking stories about motherhood. I thought, “I could probably bang together something about motherhood.” And I did. On Mother’s Day, 2013,…