As the mother of only brothers, I rarely ever find myself in the hip young women’s clothing stores. I stroll by Forever 21, Free People, Limited Too on my way to the Vans store at the mall without ever giving more than a passing glance as to what might be inside these outlets. I really [...]
I took my first post- Boston bombing train trip last week. All of my heightened defenses that had slowly and painfully softened over the last decade had returned as I stood on the Wilmington platform waiting for Amtrak 111 to Washington D.C. to arrive. I had miscalculated, purchasing a business class ticket during rush hour. [...]
Before I had children, I made certain vows to myself about what kind of parent I would be. This exercise stretched as far back as my teenage years when I knew for certain that I had the wherewithal to be an absolutely perfect mother. Given my vast personal experience at having parents – and long [...]
Last year, I was pleasantly surprised when Noah, as an eighth grader, wanted to go out for the track team. As a former athlete, I carry with me a strong sense of the value that comes with participating in a sport. But both Noah and Chase have historically chosen to spend most of their extracurricular [...]
“Everything works out in the end. If it hasn’t worked out, it’s not the end.” – Unknown As you might imagine, I have been swimming in sea of anxiety for the last several months. I don’t do particularly well with unfinished business, much less circumstances in which I have no control. And since the beginning [...]
I had expected the worst and was not disappointed. My surgery 10 days ago to remove a cyst in my jaw was successful in all of its gory awfulness. As I awoke from the anesthesia with ice on my face and drooling blood in a not-so-hip-vampire-way, a nurse placed my glasses on my nose so [...]
Early last Sunday evening, I sat in my home office writing, paying a few bills, and taking inventory of the week ahead. We had just finished dinner as a family; Dave had prepared lamb shanks and the house still smelled rich and savory from a full day of braising. Once the dishwasher was loaded, we [...]
Sitting in the dentist’s office in early February waiting for my cleaning, I had almost forgotten about the tiny bump just above my upper left eye tooth. I had noticed it a few months before though I can’t remember exactly when. I dismissed it as perhaps a canker sore or some temporary inflammation (even though [...]
Last Sunday morning, Dave woke me up out of a sound sleep around 7:00 a.m. Em, I need your help. Hmm. Not a good sign because 1) Dave never wakes me up if I don’t have to be somewhere and; 2) he rarely needs my help. The combined oddities made me sit up in bed [...]
Lately more people have been leaving moderately important messages for me on my cell phone – sometimes voice, sometimes text. They aren’t emergency notifications, but the senders are in need of some sort of timely response. Which they don’t get from me. Because they left the message on my cell phone. Which was in my [...]
