Year-End Ramble: 2017
This year: Pick your best cussword. 2017 has challenged us in so many ways. It has strained our rights as human beings, divided us from friends and family, tested faith, broken individuals seemingly...
View ArticleDumb Valentine’s Day Card: Music Video
Valentine’s Day is a colossally dumb holiday. Like a lot of “holidays,” much of Valentine’s Day’s finds meaning in how much you can spend. Supposedly we’re celebrating love and Cupid and being...
View ArticleFour Zinger Years
This post was written 10 April 2018, but I’m backdating it to Z’s birthday, 8 April. Dear Z, Almost three months ago, you and I got sick with fevers, headaches, and congestion. You and I went to the...
View ArticleMother’s Day 2018 Thoughts
What is Mother’s Day to these groups? I may have missed some categories, but in general this is what I have observed: Married women with children Single women with children Women with special needs...
View ArticleNot ‘Just’
To those who talk about the number of other people’s children or grandchildren with the word just or only in front of that number: don’t do that. Perhaps without meaning to, you’re inferiorizing them....
View Article2018 to 2019
As I type this, I take a deep breath and try to shrug off exhaustion. Reviewing the year in the middle of winter should be a rejuvenating exercise, but at this moment all I really want to do is sleep....
View ArticleClemency Toward Grace
The other day–sometime last week–I was just hanging out inside my own brain and came across the clearest, most refreshing thought. It came like a revelation. It was about me, directed at me, and it...
View ArticleMaking Friends 2.0
– This photo was taken at a New Year’s Eve party to ring in 2009 in NYC. TEN years ago. Geez, Louise. I’m actually not an incredibly social creature. Parties are fun, and I bring my own energy when I...
View ArticleKindergarten Planning and Placement
Z turns 5 in the next couple of months. She’s been going to preschool since she was 3. In the fall she’ll start kindergarten. KINDER-freaking-GARTEN. A few weeks ago Z’s preschool teacher notified us...
View ArticleParent-Teacher Conference and Kevin
Last night we met with Z’s preschool teacher. The first thing she asked when she saw us was, “Who’s Kevin?” Well, Kevin could be a couple of things: or Z’s teacher said that Z often says, “Come on,...
View ArticleSupporting Loved Ones
Disclaimer: I’m grieving and have more feelings than I know what to do with. Writing is one way to sort through them. Not sure if they’ll make sense, but here they are. On February 23, 2019 we had a...
View ArticleOur Anniversary
Disclaimer: I’m grieving and have more feelings than I know what to do with. Writing is one way to sort through them. Not sure if they’ll make sense, but here they are. Carla passed away on June 1,...
View ArticleMay 19, 2019
Disclaimer: I’m grieving and have more feelings than I know what to do with. Writing is one way to sort through them. Not sure if they’ll make sense, but here they are. We all went out to dinner to...
View ArticleLast Monday
Disclaimer: I’m grieving and have more feelings than I know what to do with. Writing is one way to sort through them. Not sure if they’ll make sense, but here they are. On June 10 after work I went...
View ArticleA Memory
Disclaimer: I’m grieving and have more feelings than I know what to do with. Writing is one way to sort through them. Not sure if they’ll make sense, but here they are. Sometime during Carla’s final...
View ArticleA Memory
Disclaimer: I’m grieving and have more feelings than I know what to do with. Writing is one way to sort through them. Not sure if they’ll make sense, but here they are. Further back. In the month or so...
View ArticleA Voice
“I sure do love you.” This. This is the soundbyte. Over the last few months. Probably the last year. Carla would say that right into Z’s ear whenever she gave her a hug. Whenever this memory bubbles...
View ArticleIt Was A Beautiful Day
June 8, 2019 This was two weeks ago. I don’t know how that happened, where the time went. Not that it passed particularly quickly or slowly, but that it . . . moved. The service at the church was...
View ArticleA Break for the Tear Ducts
Places I’ve cried in descending order of frequency: Garden/Flowerbeds Shower Work Car, on the way to/back from work Talking to Z, tucking her in In my own bed, trying to fall asleep Family room Today...
View ArticleJust Keep Swimming
I posted this on social media two days ago: Monday, 6/24. Just keep swimming. This past Saturday was three weeks since Nana’s passing; two weeks since her funeral. June 22 is Nana and Papa’s wedding...
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