“You know everyone thinks you’re a terrible mother, right?” When someone uttered these words to me this week, I laughed. I laughed. And that, my friends, is progress. Do you know how many tears I’ve cried? How much sleep I’ve lost? How much therapy I’ve invested in? How much inner work I’ve done to laugh […]
This was the year of the anti-resolution for me — no exercise, no dry January, no improved diet or refined goals. I didn’t have it in me. Note to the reader: if you buy into the mindset of New Year, New You, which I have invested in for many years before this one, I do […]
I was talking to a neighbor parent yesterday, and I shared a daily thought of mine: “there’s nothing more comical about my pre-kids assumptions about parenting than my belief that a parent’s biggest job is to teach their children.” In actuality, I’ve learned far more about myself and the world from my children than I’ve […]
One hot as blazes Friday this August, I splurged for an extra day of camp for the kids, started the morning getting the ladies hugged so tight at my annual mammogram, and then landed my 43-year-old backside in a tattoo chair for the first time. (My husband happened upon the day’s calendar a couple days […]
I have been a parent for 10 years. A whole decade!? And as any parent of a child more than weeks old can likely relate to, I am somehow equally confounded that it feels like it couldn’t have been more than a few years, and because it also feels like the pre-kids version of my […]
School starts in one day, and I think I’m finally ready to say it. (Well, maybe whisper it.) We had a good summer. This is new, so I’m afraid I might jinx it if I say it out loud. It reminds me of our son’s remote control airplane that he really wants to fly but […]
We can be flexible. We can be flexible. We can be flexible. We can be flexible. If we have a family mantra, this might be it. We have two neurodiverse children that are not known for their go-with-the-flowness. Flexibility is something we’re actively cultivating every damn day in our household. It’s what we aspire to, […]
I was a just-right child for most adults — the kind introverted enough to not talk much in class, anxious enough to deeply fear getting into any degree of trouble, engaged enough to want to learn, people-pleasing enough to strive for good grades and reviews, and not quite brave enough to ask too many difficult […]
After weeks of holidays, illnesses, snow days, and tidal waves of errands and tasks, I woke up Monday morning to a blank slate on my calendar — no appointments, no scheduled work or meetings, no agenda. When you’re a mom and wife with a job, a contracting position, and a side business, just the thought […]
I recognized the mugshot of a man who confessed to seriously harming his young son yesterday. Unfortunately, It wasn’t the mugshot or the news headline that shocked me. It was the recognition. It’s a different thing knowing something terrible exists in the world and knowing something terrible exists in your world. The even more shocking […]
