The family happened to be all occupied. With what, I’m not sure, but it was calm and I decided to try slipping onto the porch without being missed. I grabbed a few quick supplies: drink, phone (always), book, and pencil and headed out to the swing camp chair. The pencil -- I’m pretty sure my …
It’s Bright
After coffee, the first order of business every day is to open all of the blinds. Most of our apartment's windows face East and overlook a large pond, giving us a lovely view of the sunrise. At that time, the pond is still -- save the occasional small gator enjoying the peaceful water. By 7:35am, …
Day 31: Dust
The whirring of the sound machine beckons me into my girls’ room. Their beds have already been abandoned, in favor of climbing up next to my husband or I as we sip coffee and read or journal. “It’s bright, Momma,” is Irene’s way of announcing a new day has begun and she is ready to …
Day 30: Bud
I have sometimes wondered Why the pet name for little boys is so often bud or buddy While little girls get one of a thousand iterations of loveliness, sweetness, beauty or preciousness. We want our sons to be kind and We want our daughters to be friends And still, when I see my friends’ boys, …
Vapor and Ashes
It’s as if we were living in a house and it burned to the ground. I’m not sure I ever stopped to make a list of what was left in the house, of what we lost. We moved into a new house, fully furnished -- it was easier just to pretend everything was normal,” I …
Day 29: Dinner
“I don’t like that,” she said as her eyes graze over the food, then turned straight back around to march out of the room. “I don’t need a treat,” she adds from her bedroom. My husband and I exchange looks of unsurprised displeasure tinged with resignation. Despite meals being the way we keep time during …
Day 27: TV
:: an ambivalent haiku:: Oh, television My hero, my nemesis God’s gift to steward
Day 23: Band-aid
Typical of little people, my children have both believed in the power of a Band-aid. Not just for broken skin, band-aids are requested for all kinds of boo-boos. Bug bites, scratches, or burns, and bruises, soreness, or bumps -- the act of adding a bandage has magical powers to soothe. It’s not just band-aids either, …
Day 22: Lunch
As a person who delights in partaking of interesting and delicious food and drink, my qualm with lunch has been that it usually feels like simply a means to an end. When you’re short on time and/or money, lunch becomes merely about filling our bellies until dinner, when the slightly more interesting food can be …
Day 21: Fence
She leaves the paved sidewalk and opts for the grass, doing cartwheel after cartwheel -- her new bodily compulsion. We come to the pedestrian gate of the neighborhood, but she’s off the path again -- running up the hill and climbing over the fence, then cartwheeling some more. She’s gotta do things the most difficult …
