Every little thought. Every little detail. Every. Single. Word. Does it matter, really? What we say and why we say it? What we write and our motivations for doing so? Who’s reading? Who’s not reading? Why do we think that each statement or question we put to ourselves is of interest to anyone else? Why […]
Another Day, Another Kid?
For a moment I actually considered it. Scratch that. For five moments I considered it. I admit I’d spent the day in a perpetual state of “weepy,” particularly since I unearthed a stack of Polaroids of my younger son from a decade ago. Cue the eye leakage. The occasional heaving sob. More eye leakage. Then […]
Five Accomplishments, No Medals, Parenting Ourselves
I’ve been scrounging in my son’s room for vestiges of dirty clothes – hardly an exciting task, but a must – lest hidden stinky socks unleash insidious effects while he is away at school. There was plenty to discover – a t-shirt here, a towel there, tennis shorts in the strangest places. And yes, more […]
Rambunctious Recipes for a Wild Weekend
Who doesn’t love food? (No one I know.) It’s the weekend – and a long one at that. So in the interest of a few hours of je ne sais quoi — reading Harper’s Bazaar? Pablo Neruda? Marguerite Duras, preferably au lit? — how about some rambunctious recipes (on a budget) for powering through the Labor […]
All That Heaven Allows
“What people say matters terribly,” her friend insists, trying to get the 40-something widow played by Jane Wyman to give up her love affair with a hunky younger man, none other than Rock Hudson. She is a well-heeled woman with her place in society. He is the son of a gardener. Of course, we […]
Piano Bar
Big blue eyes. Black brows, penciled in, and thin. Translucent skin, dark hair pulled back from the face, and just the slightest hint of age around the neck, that softening of skin that immediately signals four decades behind or possibly five, and still, her beauty is unmistakable. She is simultaneously subdued and friendly though some […]
Gone Fishing
Once, I was forced to put a wiggly worm onto a pointy hook and lower the line into a body of water. I didn’t much care for that activity, though sitting on the side of a river bank (or European canal) is very restful, indeed. Might I try it, without the rod and reel? Once, […]
Looking Ahead to Goodbye
The realization that we are sending our kids off to college. Saying our goodbyes, tenderly.
Backbone
When parenting requires the backbone to say no.
First Impressions, College Capers
Do you need to be liked? If the answer is yes, join the crowd. Oh, most adults don’t need to be liked by everyone, but the younger we are, the wobblier that evolving self-image and the more important it is to feel liked. Remember high school? Exactly. Remember those first days at college? Tricky. At […]