This week, Gale at Ten Dollar Thoughts wrote about the division of responsibilities among couples – how the lines are drawn when it comes to bringing home the bacon, household chores, childcare, cooking, yard work, and more. As a long-time single parent, my view of domestic duties operates from a different perspective. I’ve raised my […]
Doubt
A child takes her parent’s hand at the age of two or three, with confidence. She looks up and smiles. She doesn’t doubt; the world assures her that her parent will hold on tightly, and keep her safe. But no one stays a child forever. The world is complicated. We learn to move beyond ourselves […]
A Round of Applause for Healing Hands
He paged through the test results from five weeks ago. Didn’t say much. There was a flicker of a raised eyebrow. I interrupted his concentration: “She said everything was normal.” He nodded, then shook his head for a moment at something, then turned back to me. He’s an older man. His face is a little […]
Monday Morning Complaint Department: Grand Reopening!
Come on. Admit it. You’re happy for the opportunity to vent. Freely. To bitch a little. Or maybe a lot. To know it’s okay. But first, a digression. I was wondering about those who complain frequently. I pondered the moaning-groaning personality type – if it’s a personality issue – and what it takes to reinforce […]
Fresh Eggs: 1 Mile
Nudging my kid, shaking my kid, waking my kid. As usual. Making the lunch, brewing the coffee, rushing to get a jump on my writing. As usual. My laptop flipped open, and ready to rock. As usual. Flipped open… and nothing. “Do backups,” said the adult voice. That was last night, about 12:30, as I […]
Endings, Beginnings, and Everything in Between
My propensity for nostalgia hits full swing in Autumn. October in particular seems to activate a melancholic side; the season’s fragile cusp between warmth and chill, between light and dark. I am moodier. I am reminded of endings. Then I give myself a good swift kick, and remember that for every ending, there is a […]
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
You don’t know if your printer will crash when you only allotted five minutes to pump out a handful of pages. You don’t know if when you grab the backup computer, its operating system will crank into update mode, and stay that way for twenty minutes. You don’t know if it will storm when you […]
Imagine. . .
Can you imagine a better world? There was an entire generation that dared to do just that. To imagine a different world. A better one. I am part of that generation. Our legacy of images and music from the late 1960s and early 1970s stands. It persists even in contemporary consciousness. It was a troubled […]
Timing is everything
Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking… Trying to wake the kid. Rushing to get his lunch made. Hoping the car will start. Scrambling to get things done hours earlier than usual, and “usual” is pretty damn early. Crossing my fingers that I make it to the dealership. Pleading for no traffic. Counting on that loaner. […]
Silence is Golden, Sort Of
No need to dress. No need to drive. No need to cook – heating a frozen dinner in the microwave was just fine. And not one word. No need to speak at all, for 36 hours. Bliss. Yesterday was my first day off in two months. No parenting, no worrying, no checking a clock or […]