One morning last week, my 21-year-old son came into the kitchen and asked if I’d help him make a cup of coffee. Now, if any of you own one of those newfangled Keurig machines, like the one I have, you know that it’s fairly simple to operate. You open the doohickey and stick the plasticRead more…
Lately, I’ve taken to sitting at the head of the big pine table in my kitchen to write, my black-and-white slipcovered chair backed into the bay window that bumps out that back corner of the room. Outside the window over my left shoulder, there’s a tremendous amount of chattering these days coming from the finchesRead more…
Anyone who has seen the Hungtington Learning Center commercial on TV — “Face it! I’m not getting into college!” – has had the pleasure of hearing a dramatic scene taken from the pages of my own life. Let me clarify: I am lucky in that I haven’t had anyone failing out of school. The kidsRead more…
If I were the mathematical sort, I would try to calculate just how many hours there were between fall and spring semesters at the university that my two oldest children attend. But as I have a hard enough time counting how many times I’ve squatted on a ball or lifted a weight over my headRead more…
If you’re like me, you are finding that it’s not always so easy to like all the people who you’re living with. Much less love them. At least once a day, I find myself in a combative situation or heated conversation with someone I gave birth to. I even made that observation aloud to oneRead more…
Usually, I try to be clever here. On Sundays, I like to come up with a little song-and-dance routine to tempt you to keep reading and maybe help you discover something you might have missed last week. Some little gem that escaped you as you scrolled through all the Black Friday e-mails and updates fromRead more…
On the occasion of my son’s birthday this weekend, I put together my first care packages of the school year. I’m generally terrible at this type of thoughtfulness but figured I’d also send something to his sister since I was already going to the post office with one box. It is also good luck thatRead more…