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}
39 and feeling good and indulgent birthday posts
June 6, 2019 By 2 Comments
39. Good gracious. There’s something so self-indulgent about a birthday blog post, isn’t there? Thanks for indulging my self-indulgence. Today, I am 39. Thirty nine. That’s…a number right there. (Special note to friends and family over the age of 39: Thanks in advance for not smacking me upside the head. Because I’m gonna talk about it a little bit longer.) Because 39. It feels heavy. Like, your parents are 39, right? (Except they’re totally not; they’re most likely 50 and {Read More}
Valentine’s Day & mental illness & I promise this one ends well.
February 14, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Yes, this one concerns a bit o’ mental illness… But it’s really a Valentine’s Day story. (With a tiny bit of mental illness all up in there too.) I promise that it is. So. Back when I was little, I was convinced that the perfect Valentine’s Day involved cellophane-wrapped hearts and truckloads of roses and lilies and Golden Era romantic comedies on a loop. (To be quite honest, that is the perfect Valentine’s Day. It just is.) But as I’ve {Read More}
I love winter now. Thanks, polar vortex!
January 31, 2019 By Leave a Comment
I think I might love winter. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I’m totally great with this polar vortex. I might even go so far as to say that I love winter. For those playing along at home, Chicago (a.k.a. Chiberia) has been showing off with negative degree weather. Tap-dancing, really. In stompy boots. We’re talking -20 days with a wind chill of close to -50, snow swirling sideways, and winds that sound as if they’d really, really like {Read More}
#ThisIsNine (Or, a “new glasses” story)
January 17, 2019 By Leave a Comment
I don’t write about Nora as much as I used to anymore. A huge part of embracing that whole #ThisIsNine hashtag comes part n’ parcel of what “nine” actually means. Nine is fierce loyalty, intense emotions, and a both-hands-gripped nostalgia for toys we both kinda/sorta know are on their [slow] way out. #ThisIsNine… …Is also tentative requests for more privacy, more autonomy, and more respect. I miss writing about Nora as much as I used to. Since the day she {Read More}
5 things I now know about boys. (A 5th birthday story.)
December 20, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Jasper, my beamish boy, you just turned 5. Before you came along, I had not birthed anyone even remotely male. (It’s true.) Since then, I’ve been a big ol’ vocal opponent of gendered anything, insisting that boys and girls are exactly the same, and fighting any “all boys do xyz” myths. And since then, I’ve come around to realize that sometimes the things people say about boys are the undeniable truth. Such as… Boys are all about bodily functions There’s {Read More}
