Sacred
My family has dinner together every Monday night. We meet at my parents' house. My brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and I all come straight from work. My husband and sister come from our homes with the kids. My parents are there, and my niece is...
Life-Changing Magic
I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about life-changing magic. Life-changing magic of tidying up, of living minimally, of certain food plans, of gyms and exercise programs, of not giving two hoots about what other people think. There seems to be a...
Being an Adult
There seems to be a general lack of consensus about what generation I belong to. As far as I can tell I am technically a Millennial, but I fall right around this gray borderland where it’s not quite clear. And maybe it’s just the way my brain...
Easy Peasy
The other night at dinner we were talking about the woes of potty training, and my sister commented that my niece was incredibly easy to potty train. “Was I easy?” my daughter asked. I had to laugh. “You have always been delightful. And you’ve...
In the Dark
The sun is out today. A few minutes ago I took my cup of coffee and stood on the sidewalk outside of my office, just feeling the light of the sun on my face. I can remember a time when I hardly paid attention to when the sun was out and when it...
What You Can’t See
Sometime this fall I smashed my toenail. My youngest was sitting on one of our bar stools, and I went to shift the stool to get into a kitchen drawer. I shifted that stool right onto my toenail and smashed it to bits. It wasn’t pretty, and it...
Working Ahead
I love Christmas. I love Christmas decorating, Christmas baking, Christmas cards, Christmas lights, Christmas presents, Christmas traditions. You get the point. But sometimes I feel like there is so much going on this time of year that I’m...
Grace
If you hate when people complain about being tired, maybe stop reading right now. Last week was a doozy. My youngest daughter had croup, and between the fever and coughing, we literally did not sleep. I went five nights without sleeping one...
I Need Your Opinion
The other day my sister was trying to decide what she should wear for her family pictures. She texted me and our sister-in-law pictures of both options, a green dress and a blue dress, and asked us which one we thought she should wear. My...
The Whole Story
One of my kids is particularly susceptible to fear. He is incredibly perceptive and aware, and therefore he sees danger and risk in places where other kids may miss it. He can be cautious, easily concerned, and slow to take risks. He has a...