A Family Portrait
September 2, 2010
Lost in the project, head down, a green crayon in my hand, I didn’t know where I was. Above each of the five children in the photograph I drew a balloon on a string. I had drawn them each a lollipop too, which they held in their right hands. All except for the baby. She was too little for hard candy. Read the rest of this entry »
Empty Nest, Part 2
July 15, 2010
Dog gone it…
I woke up crying at two in the morning. Little memory loops from my children’s lives played over and over in my head. I tossed and saw one alone in a big city. I turned and saw me losing patience with another. I rolled over on my back and saw the house full of them. I sat up and opened my eyes with my maternal failings bearing down on me, and I then gave up on sleep. Read the rest of this entry »
A Pair of Mothers
July 2, 2010
Years ago, I was driving my car full of kids home from some combination of soccer, dance, and school. I passed a woman and her kids, walking on the bike path. Read the rest of this entry »
A Goodbye
May 11, 2010
My son gave me a good, real hug when he left home. It was the kind of full on, full pressure, hands on back “I love you too” hug that one doesn’t get every day; and it squeezed the words out of me: Read the rest of this entry »
A Walk
May 4, 2010
An Avocado
April 23, 2010
Scooping avocado into my salad, I remembered the first time I experienced that fruit. I was sixteen, babysitting a ten-year-old boy named Zach and his little sister Sierra. Read the rest of this entry »
A Book
April 21, 2010
I have a favorite children’s book. “The Little House” by Virginia Lee Burton. A little house is built in the country, the city encroaches, the house is abandoned and forgotten, but then found, moved, and restored by the great-great grandaughter of the builder. Read the rest of this entry »
