“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.
Looking Ahead to Goodbye
The realization that we are sending our kids off to college. Saying our goodbyes, tenderly.
10 Tips On Teens (And Lessons Learned)
He’s grunting in response to my questions, and staring straight ahead. Here we are again, I tell myself. Me, at the wheel. Him, in the passenger seat. Adult annoyance meets adolescent angst, yields one part migraine, two parts morning misery. And where is my kid? The one I raised? I shouldn’t complain. Really. Relatively speaking, […]
Baby Bump? Try Budget Bummer!
I know several women who have recently given birth, and others who are expecting babies. I couldn’t be more delighted for them. In each case, they are mothers (already), and devoted ones at that. Babies are always happy news. Giving life is an incredible experience, and parenting – filled with wonder. But the realities of […]
Getting Down to Business
Work ethic is one thing. Never enjoying success is another.
Weekend Update (Do You Know Where Your Children Are?)
“You’re going where?” I ask. “Brussels, Paris, then Rennes and maybe Brest,” he says. It’s my 18-year old on the phone from Europe. My son the factory worker, my son the office worker, my son the engineer-in-training, with a touch of mad scientist thrown in. Curious about everything. Vibrant and adventurous. My son, calling last […]
My Son, the Office Worker
He’d managed to get his dirty clothes washed. Finally. But it took a phone call to his grandparents who live about an hour away. I imagine my son convincing his grandfather to fetch him, driving from their small town to the big city, and then back to their home for a family weekend of discussion […]
Teen Party Planner, the Mad Hatter, Down the Rabbit Hole
Teen party planner “Can I have a few people over?” Excuse me? “Saturday night. Can I have a few people over? We’ll sit outside, in the back.” This was unusual. Four sentences. I realize he can talk, and with animation, but generally only when there’s a girl around, or the girl, the OMG hot blonde […]
Left foot red, right hand blue
Remember “new math?” Wasn’t it just old math – with a twist? I can’t recall what the twist was (natch), but I can think of plenty of other twists and twisters… tongue twisters, Twister the movie, and Twister the floor game that’s been around since, uh… when I was a kid! But my latest “twist” […]