From my childhood, I remember (who knows if it happened once or regularly) that we would clean out our fridge of spoiled food. I didn’t think about throwing away week-old, uneaten spaghetti. When I lived on my own it continued. When I lived with girlfriends it would happen because we would lose track of things sharing a fridge. And then… my in laws were in the kitchen one day silently watching me, commenting in a […]
I was a shy little girl growing up in Kentucky. In spite of being shy, I somehow made good friends quite easily. Following in the steps of my big sisters, at 16 years old, my parents sent me on a bus tour of the western USA. What an amazing opportunity! I spent 6 weeks on a coach bus, sleeping in tents, and seeing sites like Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Grand Canyon, and Glacier National Park. […]
We are growing up in a time when it is good to be self-sufficient. It is expected to be self-sufficient. Two months after moving to a new suburb we got a puppy. (Little did I know how much work a puppy would be, but that’s a different story.) My middle schooler introduced me to a neighbor that also just got a puppy. had a fenced in backyard and I did not. Luckily, Dinah invited us […]
Imagine a sanctuary filled with approximately 26 kids between 8-12 years old. While there might be 14 adults, the children receive the question, “What are you grateful for?” and the children answer: Chocolate! Beds! Fluffy stuffed animals! My parents and sister! Sporks! The sun! Ability to see! While the answers vary in depth, the discussion continues for 10-15 minutes. It is a beautiful thing to see children think of what they are grateful for AND […]
There was a nice phase in my life where six women – in roughly the same phase of life and parenting – would get together on a regular basis to do dinner. We talked, we laughed, we compared stories and troubles. One night Natasha shared that she and her husband have sex every night. The rest of us were totally surprised. We shared our average quantities per month. Then we spent a good deal of […]
My Aunt Maggie was a kindergartner teach for 33 years. While there are many hysterical stories from her and about her, she taught me something so simple and tremendously effective. When I was pregnant with my first child, Maggie explained that little kids have a hard time learning and accepting death. She made it through many situations by using the sentence “the person’s heart stopped.” Maggie explained that it gives the children a concrete answer […]
Oh, I wish I had a real picture of this! Imagine… In late-1970’s in Louisville, Kentucky, walking into my grandparents apartment. In the compact kitchen, about 300 square feet, with kitchen table and extra large freezer (the white one with the key always hanging out of it). The love and family time spent in that relatively tiny space was amazing. The most memorable thing for me was what was on the freezer. My grandma posted […]
My dad taught me and my siblings how to drive. Before he handed over the keys we had to repeat “A car is a killing machine”. Literally he would not give the keys until we said it, each and every time. Each time we start the ignition we suddenly have the power to kill people. This is a big responsibility for anyone at any age, but think of a 16 year old being granted this […]
Imagine the scene… Wife: I have been up at 5am every morning to get to work on time after not sleeping more than 3 hours straight due to breastfeeding. I am exhausted. Would you please do something to help me? Husband: I can’t help you breastfeed Wife: That is not what I meant! Husband: Just tell me what you want! It took me about 4 years (ok 14 years) and hundreds of these ineffective conversations […]
“There is nothing worse than happy children.” I overheard my mom saying this phrase to adults hundreds of times when I was a child. I would put on a quarter-size smile but I did NOT understand. How could nothing be worse than… sweaty loud on a summer day? Was she kidding… that was the best! How could nothing be worse than… sitting at the pool with dozens of kids? Was she kidding… that was the […]