We hold our babies, swaddle them, sing to them. We study their hands unwrapping their fingers grip on ours, wondering if they’ll be able to palm a basketball or reach an octave on the piano. We love to dream of their potential. We pray for them. But every mother knows we can verbalize only a... Continue Reading →
Shock and Awe
You’re not one to pick up on a turn of phrase or value strategically placed words. You barely slow down to read these posts, smile and say, “Thank you, Mommy!” I suppose I write them, then, to show you someday, maybe when time and age have caught up with you, that behind these little words... Continue Reading →
Sharing Arms: A Mother’s Day Thank You
I sent a text last Mother’s Day that read, “Thank you for sharing arms with me.” I included a picture of me holding Eloise. It was to her birth mom. The woman who held Eloise close in her womb for 9 months and was the first to draw her near in her arms. The woman... Continue Reading →
Very Good
The baby boy that was all chubby cheeks and belly laughs and ear infections and mischief turns 8 years old today. How those 7 pounds turned into almost 70, that wavy tawny hair turned into a pompadour, and those subtle coos turned into non-stop talking is a mother’s grief and delight. Your dad and I... Continue Reading →
Beginning, Again
It wasn’t our first drive to the hospital. We’d done it more than a few times to labor and deliver babies. But this time was different. The one thing that always seems to stay the same is that things never go like we think they will. And we can cynically give up our expectations or... Continue Reading →
When You’re Not OK
We moved around my first 8 years. Making ends meet, keeping cars pieced together, and finding places we’d be welcome. An apartment for a bit, with Grandma and Grandpa for awhile, with one of your friends during my Kindergarten year, then into a nicer public housing complex. Cashiering wasn’t your passion and neither was putting... Continue Reading →
Something Better Than President (To my Mom for Father’s Day)
I guess in some ways it would've made more sense to write this post on Mother's Day. I could have, but I didn't. Because although you have been a mom to me these past 39 years, you've also stood where a dad should've stood all these years, too. When you're a single parent, you don't... Continue Reading →
2015: Walking Forward with a Limp
Lunches packed, backpacks zipped, and the girls buckled in. Matt pulls the van out of the garage this morning as "Speak Life" blares through the speakers. He's doing his own cheorgraphy to make Ruby laugh. We're all forced smiles and silly dancing to hide our sadness that the time has come for our family to... Continue Reading →
These Four Walls
It's a fitting end to our homeschool year. I just got off the phone with the mom of one of Stella's unsaved friends from soccer. She invited us over for a playdate. That phone call was fruit of our feeble attempts to reach out. Well, actually more like Stella's efforts reaching out. She would lie... Continue Reading →
I Thought I Was Safe
Last week I enjoyed laughing at the comical ways Stella's peers described their moms and thought since I'm the teacher I was safe from those embarrassing exposures. Then Sunday came. Stella's Sunday school teacher had her class fill out one of those handy dandy questionnaires about their moms. Apparently my favorite thing to wear is... Continue Reading →
Stirring Soup in the Spotlight
It has been said that being a mom is a thankless job. Days are spent doing things no one notices. The paparazzi's not hiding in our bushes to snap pictures of us unloading our screaming kids from the van. No one is dying to interview us on our latest bedtime routine, hoping this one will... Continue Reading →