French parenting style: cultural differences beyond the obvious.
Criss-Cross
“You’re where?” “Austin,” he says. I’m 1,000 miles from home with the headache from hell. I’m holding back a flood of tears over my younger son who is spending his first night in the dorm. In a new part of the country. In a new life. He’s fine, I know. But I’m a mess.
The Itch
London. San Francisco. Paris, of course. Mentions of Melbourne, moments in Mexico, photographs of Phoenix. Even if I never leave my little burg (of several million), I’m inclined to play the part of an armchair voyager, bound for locales that I’d like to visit, and others where I’ve lived and I dream of returning. And […]
Feeding Your Spirit
I was browsing the Living section on Huffington Post and came across this: Spiritual Lessons From Wine And Baguettes. How could I bypass so tasty a title? Especially as today is Bastille Day – the French national holiday? And, I confess, I have allowed myself a bit of both this summer – good wine and […]
Moms Gone Wild?
Is my own version of Moms Gone Wild in the future? Is it in yours? Once my chicks have flown the nest, I doubt I’ll be the poster parent for frenzied frolicking or salacious sex scenes. Then again, you never know, though I suspect that an afternoon of discount designer shoe shopping might be more […]
Top 10 Places I Want To Go
If money is no object and you can travel anywhere… What is your list of top 10 locations?
Unknown
You tell yourself you are adventurous and spontaneous and then you realize: you are not the same as you once were and it isn’t only the reflection in the mirror that confirms it or the gradually slowing speed with which you move through the day’s tasks. You find a quiet moment and in a heart-to-heart […]
Deep Freeze
“I know, I know. I look like a bag lady,” I said. He laughed. “More like an older student.” I pursed my lips and furrowed my brow in exaggerated irritation. “That was both kindly and mean,” I retorted, happy enough to run into an old friend, and not so much, looking haggard, ragged and a […]
Traveling Home
“What do you think about changing the stairs, over there, in that corner?” he asks. My father points to an area of our living room, though it doesn’t seem to fully resemble the place I grew up. Not as I recall it. I wonder what he is doing here, why he is standing in our […]
Travel Day
It’s here. Again. A day of last minute laundry and packing, goodbyes, airports. The house, suddenly so quiet, as my teenager prepares to fly back to college. To begin his sophomore year. It was an evening of more loads of wash than I can count, the heap of luggage in the living room finally emptied, […]