Rumble time... (Thanks for coining that, Brene.) I don't know about you guys, but this whole "sheltering" experience has both taught and humbled me so much. For example, I am so grateful for the invention of YouTube playlists, which I have been using to teach my kids cool stuff (today's lesson was "Roly Polies and … Continue reading “Sheltering” with the Dead
It has been five days sheltering-in-place, hiding from bad weather and the COVID-19 super virus with my three littlest angels, and I can feel the old demons rising. I first noticed my old friend stress eating had returned in a merciful moment of clarity while double-fisting a pint of non-dairy Cherry Garcia and it's pal … Continue reading COVID-19: A Story About Waste
Originally posted to my original author blog Bravely Enduring in April 2018. This story begins with loneliness in a house full of napping children, a text conversation with a friend and my grandparents' green armchair. That's where I am. My plan was to drive four of my five children at rush hour to a big … Continue reading Daffodils: A Story About Knowing
Dear Son, I remember the day you started playing the piano your grandparents bought us. You approached it with the same casual interest as you do anything new in your life. You shuffled up to it, made room for yourself, sat down - feet on the floor because you didn't understand the peddles yet - … Continue reading Life in Minor Chords: A Letter to My Son on His 16th Birthday
I was alone with the twins in the living room, in the early stages of our morning routine when I heard someone on the front porch, fumbling with the front door. It was still dark outside. I was in my pajamas. I stopped, listening. No burglar would make so much noise. It had to be … Continue reading Helmets: A Story About Coincidences
When my oldest two were just six and nine and our family was the early stages of blending, the four of us sat down at the kitchen table together to talk about who we were and wanted to be as a family. Blending What Is First, the plan was for each member of the family … Continue reading Blended Traits: An Exercise In Family Identity
I was sitting in a theater watching my 12 year-old daughter dance with two of my best friends when I heard myself say, "My greatest regret will be not finishing my dance degree." And then there it was. Some months passed and because we don't abide regrets around here, I was registered at our local, … Continue reading Pivot: A Story About Obedience
"The first thing you should know is that this isn't actually a letter to my son. Why? Because teenagers don't read heart-felt letters from their mothers, and that's the truth."
Originally posted to Bravely Enduring, my original author blog, in July 2018. The postpartum season of motherhood is a blessed fog. Four pregnancies and five babies in, I always feel like I spend the first twelve months after birth blinking. Blinking in disbelief that my body made such a miracle. Blinking in an effort to … Continue reading Rabbit Holes: A Story About Rescue
You are Not Alone and It's Not Forever To the mommas who had a not-so-Happy Mother’s Day, for whatever reason: it happens. And I feel you. I’m 15 years and 5 kids in - no pro-mom here, just a pro-survivor with some of experience speaking - and I can tell you, it does. If it … Continue reading When Mother’s Day Sucks…
