How does friendship hold up in the face of social media and full lives? I am sitting with a group of mothers of infants and toddlers at my local co-op’s natural parenting meeting, wondering what kind of friend I am. I’ve known the group’s organizer, Meg, for several years. She asked me to come speak almost […]
Pink Elephants
Maybe we can’t control our thoughts. But we can watch and learn from them. Ula heaves her bag onto the bench next to the door, wipes a strand of wayward hair from her glasses and gives a big sigh. It is Saturday night. She and Saoirse were with friends all day, while Bob went to […]
Yes.
It is so easy to forget to see each other, to forget the separate paths we walked before we came together. We like to think we get to watch the sunset together on Friday nights. But more often than not, we don’t. Tonight is our night alone together. The girls sleep at Grammie and Pop Pop’s […]
The Pressure Canner
Farming and radical homemaking are great lifestyle choices….If you can avoid these pitfalls. It’s one o’clock in the morning. I’m walking through the kitchen, on my way to letting Nikki and Dusky out. After that, I need to draft the farm newsletter for the week. The moonlight streams in on the kitchen table, blanketed with […]
The Unattainable
Some things seem beyond reach… But only because we’ve forgotten how to stretch ourselves. My friend Nancy and I have brought Saoirse and Ula to a nearby art museum for an exhibit of Maxfield Parrish’s paintings. Saoirse is wandering the gallery with a notebook, gazing at the pictures and writing down story ideas. Ula […]
Band Camp
I thought her struggle was about clique politics. She taught me it was about communication. “Try to steer away from Greek mythology,” Bob counsels as he and Saoirse come down the porch steps, headed for the car. I hear them from the wood pile as they pass. “Oh! I know!” I shout over a heap […]
I am not my troubles.
We all face problems. That doesn’t mean they define us. I wade out of the pond and my skin tingles in the cool air as I slip out of my bathing suit and into warmer clothes. Bob offers me a turn in the kayak, but I refuse. He and Ula paddle off. Dusky perches on […]
Honoring My Inner Goddess (of destruction)
Sometimes, the route that seems the most cruel is the most direct path to kindness. I have a habit of starting most mornings before the sun. I like to move through the house in the dark, avoiding artificial light as much as possible, slipping outside to watch the stars before the sky begins to lighten, […]
Summer Camp
I sent my daughter away because I wanted to get to know her. I’m not the kind of mother who will sit still long enough to brush and style her daughters’ hair. I’ve never been a big fan of personal grooming. And my girls have never been keen on sitting still long enough to receive […]
The College Question
If I don’t send my children to college, am I destroying their future? Or safeguarding a legacy? CHARLIE (speaking to his father): But what if I don’t want to make shoes? MR. PRICE: You’re a right funny kid, you are! Saoirse is nestled beside me in the cramped theater. Bob and Ula are two seats […]
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