Thirty or forty years ago, you never would’ve convinced me I’d be sitting in a movie theater in 2018 weeping about Mister Rogers’ life. But there I was last week, sitting with family, tears flowing down my face while “Won’t you be My Neighbor?” played on the screen. I never really knew this man who…
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My Ditzy Self
I have a ditzy side. I like to think it’s endearing, but maybe it’s just annoying to certain people close to me. In this high-tech world, many opportunities arise for ditzy people like me to make mistakes. Several times I have intended to write a text message to my husband only to discover I have…
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Confessions of a Suburban Mom – Part Two
In “Confessions of a Suburban Mom – Part One” I confess to raising our sons in a safe, secure environment, what I perceive as too sheltered of a life, blocking out a broken world. Today’s post picks up where the last post ended. As I ate dinner with a dear friend to discuss her recent trip…
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Confessions of a Suburban Mom – Part One
While writing my suburban mom confession, I need to confess to writing a long and unwieldy blog post. Whenever you combine suburban guilt and mother guilt, things get complicated, so I’m making this a two-part post. This is my confession: I chose to raise my four sons in the safety of suburban life. I…
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A Small, Quiet Christmas
After a beautiful time of togetherness for a wedding in November, my husband and I will experience a very quiet Christmas. None of our family members are able to make the trip here again, and my husband and I are too spent to travel to be with others. So this year just three of us…
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Birthday Reflections: Waiting and Continuing
I turn another year older today, another year closer to a very big number that ends in zero arriving in 2018. We’ll hold off talking about that birthday until next year. All wrapped up in my birthday package this year comes the surprise fact that getting older gets easier. In fact, these bigger birthdays are…
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A New Novel Worth Persusing
Debut author Katherine James’ discomfort with self-promotion has led her to share photos of dogs on social media promoting her new book. But some of us who deeply enjoy and respect her writing feel it’s worth helping her out with a human voice. 🙂 In her novel, Can You See Anything Now?, an eclectic group of…
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So Much Sky
An excerpt from my empty nest essay, appearing in the latest issue of “Under the Sun” literary journal. The note appears hooked to the knob of my front door, a warning. The emerald ash borer disease has ravaged the hundred-year-old stately ash trees lining our road, and our city has decided to take them all down. The forty trees…
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Spoken Blessings
Today I have the privilege of writing over at The Mudroom blog, “a place for stories emerging in the midst of the mess.” When my twin sons accidentally caught 17-acres of land on fire while filming a World War II movie with their high school friends, it wasn’t the scorched trees I remember most. Or the…
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Homesick
Our family loves to drive past our old homes in Massachusetts and Virginia, trying to catch a glimpse and a memory of the rooms we once inhabited, the place where we loved and laughed, cried and fought. We critique the changes the new owners made, wonder why they took down that tree fort built by…