My kids push me – in a good way. Over the years, ‘I’ve tried many new things because of them. Sometimes it’s been something I’ve long wanted to do, other times it’s something they’ve chosen. A couple years ago, my daughter and I tried stand up paddle boarding. While I did take an unexpected swim in the process of learning, […]
As I watched my baby graduate college, I thought about how four years before, I hid behind sunglasses, watching her walk across the high school stadium. I knew then that this milestone would change both our lives, yet was unsure of what exactly that meant. In those four years we both grew. We grew apart. We grew together. We both […]
Without meaning to, I may have suggested that parenting teens is all unicorns and roses. It’s not. Parenting teens is my sweet spot. I know it’s not the same for everyone, but it’s the stage I’ve found easiest and most rewarding. While there’s much I loved about the baby phase, babies really don’t do much. I got excited when my […]
I’ll be honest; I remember almost nothing from my college commencement speech. In fact, I had to look up who the speaker was. I remember the sights of the day: the chairs lined up on the grassy area between academic buildings, the stage in front of me, the crowds filling the folding chairs and standing behind them, small children running […]
When I was expecting my third child, I read that children enter a new, but similar stage every three to three and a half years. During this time they strongly assert their independence and challenge the status quo. When I learned this, my kids were seven and three and a half (I wish I had gotten that memo sooner.) Over […]
When you have teenagers, things change quickly. It seems like each time you blink, they have grown a little; they are becoming small adults before your eyes. To make matters worse, with every other blink, it is possible for the mood to shift. (Perhaps the answer is to not blink.) I have learned over the years that living with teenagers […]
There are definitely benefits to having only older children, but sometimes I miss having little ones around. Once they all got past a certain age, Christmas changed. It lost some of its magic. Sure we continued with traditions, but it wasn’t quite the same. I don’t think there are many teenagers who believe that a man in a red suit […]
Yes, this is a beautiful image. It reminds me of our trip to Greece and looking at it, I think that maybe I’d rather be there. But this is so much more. I bought this puzzle a year ago, thinking that a puzzle would be a good distraction from all the disturbing and scary news outside our home. For a […]
Like other parents, I have always loved watching my kids perform. I know many of us have had those heart-leaping-out-of-the-body moments as they accomplish something that perhaps they couldn’t (or thought they couldn’t) do at an earlier time, or when they have accomplished things far beyond our own abilities. But it wasn’t until recently that I discovered the joy of […]
Last week my daughter and I went wedding dress shopping (socially distanced – by appointment only, fully masked, and for the most part, we were the only customers in the stores). Naturally, as I waited between dresses, my mind time-traveled to shopping for my own wedding dress. I lived more than an hour from my mom, so my first time […]
