Sometimes, I can’t stand to hear some of the words that come out of my mouth. Usually, they are the same words that used to come out of my own mother’s mouth. The ones that addressed particular behaviors and were repeated at regular intervals: “Chew with your mouth closed.” “Don’t pick your teeth.” “Put yourRead more…
The more kids I send to college and the more tuition I pay towards that effort, the dumber I am starting to feel. I just don’t get it. Let me preface this all by saying that I’ve just returned from a whirlwind 48 hours at the ginormous state school my third child will begin attendingRead more…
When my oldest was a junior in high school, I couldn’t wait to start looking at colleges. He and I drove north over his spring break that year to stay with friends just outside Boston to visit a couple of schools, and you would have thought I was going to Disney World. Libraries! Dining halls!Read more…
“That is so not fair,” observed my 16-year-old daughter as she drove us around yesterday afternoon to do some chores while we listened to “All Things Considered” on the radio. She had just heard about the changes coming to the SATs and, as she prepares to take the college entrance exam for the second timeRead 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…
Between us, we have 19 kids, 9 weddings, 3 ex-husbands, 2 boyfriends, over 25 years of memories and a lot of opinions. Since we met as students at the University of Delaware in the mid-80s, our gang of 8 friends has come a long way from our days of sitting around dorm rooms and sororityRead more…
I drank something called jungle juice this weekend and as I lifted the Solo cup brimming with the icy yellow liquid to my mouth, I realized that I needed to retract a statement I made recently – that you couldn’t go home again – because dudes, sometimes it’s like you never left. Let me explain.Read more…
I drove eight hours yesterday for the big college move. Again. He’s a junior and she’s a sophomore at the same school, and the novelty — at least for me — is wearing off. And while things aren’t as shiny and exciting as they were two years ago, I can guarantee that the two-day excursionRead more…