Eight?! Oh, Jasper Callahan, on Sunday you will be eight. That doesn’t seem like a real number when applied to you. Why? Well, for starters I think we can all agree that I have real, real brain/heart block when it comes to my children, and secondly, “eight” is the age I still apply to Nora in my mind’s eye- keeping you at a firm four. And that’s the problem, isn’t it? My darling third, even on your birthday I can’t {Read More}
12: Yep, a milestone.
October 29, 2021 By Leave a Comment
Hey Nora… Today’s your 12th birthday. You know, back in my day of flannels and Doc Martens and Nirvana-listening, “12” wasn’t a crazy milestone. Well, joke’s on me, because your outfit of choice usually involves a flannel, and today you got the prized Doc Martens from your grandmother that you’d been pining over. (Side note- If you had told me in 1992 that my mother would be buying my firstborn combat boots in sixth grade? You’d have to revive me {Read More}
Suzy is ten, and the world has been warned.
October 4, 2021 By Leave a Comment
Ten. Ten is two whole hands, two high fives and, when necessary, two clenched fists. Ten. Right now I’m listening to Lindsey Buckingham’s cover of the Stones’ “She Smiled Sweetly”- a song I put on your Spotify playlist shortly after you were born. (Wowzer, file THAT one under Tell Me You Were Born in the 2010s Without Telling Me You Were Born in the 2010s.) Susannah Mae, this song couldn’t be more you. You’ll take care of it. You’ll smile {Read More}
9: A post for Suzy, one of her very own.
October 4, 2020 By 1 Comment
(…Because when you’re the middlest middle who ever middled, “your very own” anything is cause for celebration.) 9: Dearest Susannah, Usually, I write you an open bloggy letter of sorts on your birthday. Usually, it’s filled with musings on the past year, hopes for the future, and high fives for our present. Usually, a year like the one we’ve had is not our “usual.” But wait- before I get completely ahead of myself- happy birthday, dear Suzy, happy birthday to {Read More}
Six.
December 19, 2019 By 2 Comments
Oh, my dearest boy. Today you are six. Today you are home sick. (Today you are home and really sick. So we’ll keep this one short-ish, yeah? Yeah.) Last night before bed you informed me that you were going to wake up in the morning and, first thing, look in the mirror. Because you knew what to look for. A certain “six” mentality, maybe, or another inch of Big Kid growth. Your Dad read you a book and, upon its {Read More}
Ten things to know on your tenth birthday, Nora.
October 29, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Dear Nora Jane, I know I usually wax poetic on your birthdays, telling you how much being your Mom has changed me (because it has), and how incredibly wonderful you continue to be (because you do), but today feels a little different. Today you’re ten. Yes, years old. Which means that the wildest adventure I ever began started ten years ago today, which also means that- somehow- you’re no longer the tiny pinched-face potato tied to my chest, and I’m {Read More}
Ready or not…you’re eight.
October 4, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Ready? Susannah, the “ready or not” part is for me. Because it has never, ever been a question for you, my dear one. Today you are 8. Eight years old! In Suzy years that’s roughly 59 because, as everyone knows, you leaped- fully formed- from my brain like Athena. (Yep, that’s how c-sections work. Next question!) You’ve taught me so many things, my middlest child. Like, that you’re not really all that little anymore. Maybe you never really were? You {Read More}
On missing things.
September 9, 2019 By 2 Comments
Oh- hey there, friend. Did you miss me? I’ve definitely been missing this space. Which is a good, good thing. For a while there, I wasn’t missing it. It felt like yet another deadline, yet another thing I hadn’t done in any sort of timely manner, and yet another thing causing the ball of stress in my belly to poke me in the brain at 4am. (Isn’t that how your anatomy works?) So I spent the summer reading books. Good {Read More}
