It’s been two and a half months since my husband and I separated and I moved into a nearby townhouse. After my initial sharing and the kind replies of support I received, I’ve since had a handful of “how are you doing?” questions. A few – most of the ones in person – have been…
family
Behind the scenes with Jennifer Robins of Predominantly Paleo
It’s super exciting to watch a friend be as successful as Jennifer Robins of Predominantly Paleo blog and author of five cookbooks including the new Paleo Kids Cookbook that comes out on September 6. I met Jennifer when she came to a Holistic Moms meeting I organized with Stacy Toth of Paleo Parents as our…
A no-travel, just-us Thanksgiving
This is the second year we haven’t traveled or hosted anyone for Thanksgiving. I’ve been offline all day and want to avoid getting too sucked into a screen, so I’ll just recap in brief, and in photos. Despite designs on waking at 4:30, I ignored my alarm and didn’t get up until my son woke…
Chords and tears
Today was a day of children singing and playing music, and a day of me crying. At the UU church where got married in 2002 and are these days, at best, sometimes-attendees, today was an all-welcome service designed around Sesame Street songs. I thought about going when I saw the email describing the service, and…
The art and joy of saying no
Sometimes it’s important to celebrate the fact that we didn’t do something. I don’t mean harmful or negative stuff, though, yes, it’s good to give yourself a pat on the back when you choose the high road. What I mean is the things I chose not to do because I chose calm instead. Long ago,…
Big kids are better than babies
“But they’re older now,” I thought, hopefully, as I prepared lunches for an outing to the pumpkin patch for which no friends would be joining us and as I thought about our previous trip two years earlier. Even though I know it’s always more fun for them to have buddies and for me to have…
What life sounds like now
There’s definitely a soundtrack around my house right now that I want to document. That, and today the kids were off school so I’ve had no time to write but am determined not to skip a day of #NaBloPoMo15! So here’s one of the shorter posts I wanted to be sure to write, to peg this…
End of summer, with grief and relief
As summer 2015 draws to a close, I am filled alternately with grief and with relief. Now, it’s pretty typical for me to flip-flop from one extreme to another in my emotions in the space of about two minutes. I remember one fall day I took my children to Ticonderoga Farms by myself and thought…
Lukewarm on/in spring
Dear Spring, This is difficult to say, but I’m no longer sure that I love you. We’ve had some amazing times together, I know. And I have always loved your greeny-gold and that feeling of newness you bring with you. But lately things have just been too up and down. The temperature, for one. The…
Family legacy ambivalence
Welcome to the April 2015 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Family History This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared stories, lore, and wisdom about family history. Please read to the end to find a list of…
Our days, these days
Welcome to the March 2015 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Day in the Life This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have given us a special glimpse into their everyday. *** Since I’m always wondering where the time…
What I wish for my daughter on her fourth birthday
My daughter is about to turn four. Her grandparents are asking what they can get for her. The question has made me feel hollow and heavy at the same time. I don’t feel like I can give her the things I really, truly want her to have. She is a hilarious and fascinating…
Pulling the plug on BlogHer14
It is with an ache in my gut — literally — that I have to come to terms with the fact that I am not going to BlogHer ’14. I had to believe the trip was possible when I bought the ticket. We’d had two snow days that week (including my birthday. What a rockin’…
Conviction and compromise on the road
Welcome to the July 2014 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Family Vacation This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared their family-travel tips, challenges, and delights. Please read to the end to find a list of links…
To BlogHer, or not to BlogHer
I’d already lost count of which snow day it was when I bought a registration ticket for BlogHer ’14 in San Jose, California, the annual blogging conference’s 10th anniversary year. There had been so many days that the weather had forced me to scrap plans to work toward the launch of my new site or…
Failure to thrive in motherhood
The moment I realized I could no longer handle teaching high school, I was sitting in a Teaching for Change-organized class with Enid Lee, one of the authors of Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practical Guide to K-12 Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education and Staff Development and a huge force in the area of critical literacy, which was…
Anatomy of a spring “break”
When I was a teacher, I considered spring break a reprieve from grading and early morning wake-ups and dealing with adolescent angst in 120 flavors. But now that I am a mom with school-aged children, spring “break” is a misnomer. It is a week when I feel the weight of responsibility of keeping to a…
Finding space for moving pieces
I appreciate that parenting is an amazing opportunity for personal growth, but I kind of feel like my psyche is about to explode. I can’t say that it’s my brain, because that would imply a boast about smartifying, which I’m decidedly not. And I can’t say that it’s my heart exactly, because it’s not the…
Happier at home … by staying at home?
The more I channeled Happier at Home author Gretchen Rubin this morning, straightening up and dealing with clutter, the more I started thinking about ditching the chance to see her speak tonight. Talk about shooting the messenger. She didn’t exactly say the words “don’t do anything that doesn’t make you feel joyful” in what I read…
One person’s happiness is … musings on marriage
Hearing about someone else’s marital problems is a guilty pleasure, but only until it becomes cause for envy. In her new book, Happier at Home, Gretchen Rubin shares the little things that bother her about her husband Jamie (who must be a really good sport to put up with this public laundry-airing). I liked hearing…