How much competitiveness should we encourage in our children, and at what age? How competitive should we be with our kids? Our go go go society We know the tales of waiting lists, reference letters and expensive testing – all to get toddlers into the right preschools. Never too early to get our children properly […]
Personal politics, urban dictionary style, six ways from Sunday.
Yep. I love Urban Dictionary. It suits me, despite the fact that its lingo is harder to master than a Slavic soumise. But I can live and learn, look and learn, listen and learn. And examine our political landscape with fresher (albeit irreverent) eyes six ways from Sunday. This morning, staring down a stack of […]
Admittedly, Tuesday…
Morning musing from an aching place.
Pop culture loses icons, but what are we really grieving?
What is it that touches us so deeply when we lose our pop culture icons? Losing celebrities Certainly, when celebrities pass away, we grieve the loss of talent. And we grieve for people we grew up wanting to emulate – watching, hearing, and admiring during impressionable years. We are also fascinated by celebrity, with those […]
Asking for Help: A Sign of Weakness?
In tumultuous times, do you ask for help? You feel like you’re at the end of your rope – emotionally, physically, financially. Everything is at its breaking point, and you’re falling, flailing, and failing – at each attempt to regain your balance. So? Do you ask for help? I was raised to be self sufficient. […]
Not quite an empty nest
It’s Sunday morning. Early. I can hear everything in this quiet. My fingers tapping on the keyboard. Squirrels scampering across the roof. My own thoughts, uninterrupted, except by the usual conflicting voices – the one that is telling me to breathe deeply and enjoy these moments. The others – nagging me to get to the […]
Chicken Soup
“He’s been in bed for two days,” says the older brother. “Doing what?” I ask. “Dunno,” is the reply. “Could you give me a few specifics? Any television or piano? Was he on the computer?” “Dunno,” his brother says again, as I open the door and look in. My younger son rolls his eyes toward […]
Traffic calming. $138 later, I’m not calm.
Just a few years back, in my leafy little burb, my pocket of proprietor’s paradise, near my 1400 square feet in desirable location-location-location, the proverbial “they” began a project. A “Traffic Calming Project.” Calming, I thought to myself. Traffic calming at that. It had to be a euphemism for something subterranean and a little less […]
The more things change, the more they stay the same… Huh?
I woke with the dog scratching at my door, as usual. Her needs first, then my own. Even before coffee. Rather like kids – their needs first. Those needs are initially physical, and also emotional. Needs that evolve. Becoming more affective, more instructive, more logistical. By the time we’re dealing with adolescence, things have shifted […]
Coffee. Pasta. Oh Christ, another day.
The coffee’s hot. Black. Strong. My drug of choice. FLASHBACK: I used to joke “I like my coffee the way I like my men – hot, black, and strong.” But that was before the age of political correctness. Before the 80s. My permed hair. Shoulder pads. Pumps with toe cleavage. By the early 90s I […]