The heft of a child against your chest The sitting of a raindrop on a leaf The turning of the calendar on the wall The dirtying of dishes at the table The coming of a holiday or any day without consulting your level of preparation These things are humbling inevitable and all there is…
priorities
How to do only one thing at a time: a work in progress
I’m a lucky woman. I get to do a lot of cool things. This morning, I got to take my kids to their great public school, an Expeditionary Learning school, where children start every day Monday through Thursday with a morning meeting and start every Friday with a community meeting. I love that they see…
On blogging and living (simultaneously)
Everything changes, but what is important never does. That is the biggest lesson I’ve learned from parenting, and I think if I work hard enough, I can apply it to blogging as well. When I was a high school English teacher, back before I became a mom, I was constantly busy reading papers, or thinking…
On nostalgia and novels
It was a throwback week. And a week of looking ahead. Nearly three months after we were supposed to get together for coffee but got thwarted by a health issue followed by travel and a book launch (not mine), my high school friend and thriller author Allison Leotta (nee Harnisch) and I finally had lunch,…
Parenting in the land of compromise
Welcome to the June 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting in Theory vs. in Reality 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 are sharing how their ideas and methods of parenting have changed. *** The surprises…
A snapshot of health: tired adrenals
In the past few weeks, I’ve had to cancel some appointments for my own healing because my children were sick and I didn’t have childcare. I got so down, I canceled even more that I could have made; I got overwhelmed and started to question how I was ever going to feel better. It felt…
Reading is fundamental (and so is writing)
I did not go to my child’s school to read in my pajamas today. Does this make me a bad parent? I’m going to vote no. I did have his dad pick him up some new non-flame-retardant-sprayed pj’s at Hanna Andersson yesterday (for the “it’s organic and in the mall” price far above Costco rates)…
A retreat and a reboot
Parenting really does make you tired. That’s the conclusion I reached after being away from my family for 32 hours and returned full of pep. For someone who’s had one of the toughest emotional months in her adult life recently and some physical challenges, it’s saying a lot to feel so good about the weekend….
Chameleon season, in weather and in health
Something bizarre this way comes. And goes. Last week was the most bizarre week in the atmosphere outside my windows — and also the one in my body and heart. It went from a chilly Sunday to a rainy Monday (after the school system made a super snafu and called for a snow day) to…
The end of poetry
The repetition of the word “work” bothered me today when I observed my daughter at her Montessori daycare. My older son went to Waldorf school, and even if the two approaches share an appreciation for real-world duties and chores, Waldorf education comes from the perspective that childhood is for play, exploration, unfolding. Not for doing…
Balance is overrated
Another night out, this time tutoring. In two hours, I have paid for three days of childcare. But what really is the cost? I would rather make less easy money to make money that is more meaningful to my everyday existence. And that doesn’t require me to go out 8-10 p.m. But I also value…
Not so serious
My husband and I have both been seeing a holistic doctor who prescribes homeopathic remedies and other things to address emotional energy patterns and blockages. There is a brand of sprays (by SafeCare Rx) for which he tested to need “Serious,” and I tested to need “Grief.” I can’t speak for him, but I do…
Prelude to Thanksgiving
It occurs to me when facing certain social situations that I’m still nursing a soap opera hangover from age eight when I learned how to talk to people by watching “General Hospital.” It wasn’t pretty. No one on that show is nice, unless for pretend, to get something. Everyone judges. The snappier an insult you…
The short and long view
It’s now been over three months since I started reading Katrina Kenison’s The Gift of an Ordinary Day. I’d picked it up even before that, but three months ago I devoured as much as I could while away from my kids at a conference. Since I’ve been back, time has been scarce amid getting unpacked,…
Home is where too much of your head is
This, a gorgeous fall day, was my last full day visiting family. A few weeks ago, a local mom I barely know let me stay in her apartment so that I could start work in earnest on my novel. Whenever I get out of my comfort zone, I always find that I breathe differently, appreciate…
Travelin’ mama (day one)
“Did we make these pancakes this morning?” my son asked a bit ago, at the table of my sister in the Midwest, far from where he woke — an hour earlier than usual — this morning. It’s been a long day, filled with travel, seeing people we rarely see, and stressing over lost items, namely…
Flashback
After a few days of coughing and sniffles, and a lot more of them last night, my son declared today that he didn’t want to go to school. We couldn’t blame him. Since I’m taking him and his sister on a plane tomorrow where they will spend 3.5 fun-filled days (and possibly late nights) with…
Where we sit
Point of View A beautiful day doesn’t care if you spend it outside where you can smell the leaves or behind glass, driving past so many more than the ones in your yard as long as your heart is open It’s been a long day. A good one. But I’m tired. That’s all I got….
Playing in the leaves
When we found out the neighbor we were going to meet at the park had to go back home for bad behavior, the leaf pile called us. I don’t know how we managed to have so much fun without anyone getting an eye poked out or losing a Croc. But it was a day when…
How we see what we see
Tonight we held a Waldorf-inspired Lantern Walk for the coop group I’ve been involved in. It was our first social event at the new house. The magic of starting the walk at dusk and ending in darkness, with a circle of friends holding light in their hands, is something I’m grateful my children have a…