We watched a slideshow of old photographs for Lila’s birthday. Pixelated, not entirely crisp or even well-seen pictures, all blown up for closer inspection on our big screen television. Close-ups of messy Popsicles in the fists of toddlers, boring pictures of kids perched atop park slides, so… Read More
The other morning, Vinnie was up before me, off to do a presentation for Thrive with his best friend. I cleaned up after the kid’s breakfast, and as I collected orange peels in my palms and as I loaded the dishwasher, I thought how very strange… Read More
I sat in a chair earlier this week, chin down, arms folded across my lap, eyes blinking between my kneecaps and the points of my orange shoes, getting my first tattoo. At thirty-five. As a mother of four. I sat and thought of…nothing, really. The… Read More
I didn’t sleep well last night. You came shuffling into our bedroom in the shadows, a half-asleep, half-awake, sniffling and confused body. You climbed into our bed and snuggled, wrapping your eight year old limbs up around my body. I turned away, you nestled closer.… Read More
Dear Beginning of the School Year Melanie, You think you’re ready. You’ve prepped yourself by reading homeschool blogs, talking to homeschool moms, buying subscriptions to online education sites, printables sites, buying enough books and curriculum to serve an entire classroom of children, more than enough for… Read More
My daughters do it, naturally. My sons too. On long walks, in parking lots, while running across a playground, during tense scenes in a movie, while sitting beside me in church, while jumping up and down, while passing through the automatic doors of Walmart. It’s a… Read More
In the kitchen, Evaline is laying on a flattened cardboard box on the floor with a marker-doodled, naked, baby doll. She murmurs excitedly and I catch a word here or there as I stand by the sink, stirring my coffee. Look, my castle! I love my sister. Oh,… Read More
It’s eight in the morning and the dishes from taco night are still piled in the sink. I skate across a pond of spilled orange juice. I see Evaline, dressed as Belle and clenching a fistful of juice-drenched tissues. The kids had a sleepover last night… Read More
During one of the cabin-fever snow days of this month (which has had so many, I am losing count,) Lila came to me to ask if she and I could do each other’s make up. I had not showered, had no desire to have little… Read More
So, it’s Friday. But unlike last Friday, or next Friday, this is the Friday where we live in a sea of doily hearts and construction paper love. Our kitchen table has been painted over in smears of pink and dots of glitter glue. (Evaline has… Read More
The Frozen Moon 