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}
A story for Bean.
November 29, 2018 By 8 Comments
So, I need to tell you about my little buddy Bean. Even if you’re not a “cat person.” Especially if you’re not a “cat person.” I met Bean in 2004, back when I wasn’t much of a cat person, either. (I didn’t have anything against them- I just happened to be 24 years of age and was doing fairly well being a Keely Person, to tell the truth.) But my boyfriend at the time had grown up with cats, and {Read More}
I remember being so afraid. (A birthday story.)
November 1, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Nora Jane, You are now nine years-old. Nine, if you’re not aware, is a bonkers age. (For me, mainly. I’m sure you’re perfectly fine with it.) I remember nine. I remember arranging my prized collection of porcelain dolls by height and dress and general interest- you know, the collection you inherited and now arrange by height and dress and general interest? I remember watching ‘Quantum Leap’ (a wholly brand-new show) with your Pop and how both of us agreed it {Read More}
Here’s what’s making me cry this week.
November 30, 2017 By 1 Comment
I’ll admit it, I’m a happy crier. I’ll admit even more: I’m a happy crier who used to mock my own mother’s “isn’t this beautiful” welling-up at ads, movies, D.A.R.E. graduations, and so on. But in light of the fact that there’s been so much sad crying lately (and angry crying and incredulous crying and and and…), I’ll cheerfully put my reformed ways out in the open. Most recently, I happy-cried at the Goodman’s beautiful ‘A Christmas Carol,’ during the {Read More}
Kindergarten & the Beatles & crying in public
August 31, 2017 By 2 Comments
I cried at Target the other day. It’s neither the first time I’ve cried in public nor even at a Target, but the surprising nature of the cry was enough to snap me out of it pretty quickly and have it turn into an embarrassing choke/gasp kind of thing. So, Susannah- Suzy/Zuzu/whatever the heck she goes by at any given moment- my second born ride-along, the one who can keep a good pun going for as long as the situation {Read More}
My baby started preschool and I’m super great with it, really.
September 15, 2016 By 4 Comments
Jasper started school. SCHOOL, you guys. For two and a half hours a day. (Two mornings a week.) Granted, he’s not sending me monthly postcards from his assigned oil rig- yet- but it’s hitting me oddly. Not jubilantly- like some of you freewheeling parents out there. (How the heck do you do it? Not celebrate, I mean. How do you do make it through a school day without wondering who’s gonna play Hungry, Hungry Hippos with you? On whom do {Read More}
Guilt/Cookies.
December 3, 2015 By 3 Comments
And sometimes your energy and patience and faith in humanity is justallgone. And you look at a picture like this: And you see those faces, completely full of innocence, and you kinda break a little bit inside. Because you don’t want those tiny people to be shot in a public venue, in a private home, not anywhere, ever, and not when they’re grownup, either. You also feel substantial guilt because those faces are growing up in a home with more {Read More}
Puzzles, grief & yelling at screens.
November 23, 2015 By 3 Comments
My Dad and I used to collectively pull out our hair over puzzle games. We uttered angry, not-so-nice words at the computer screen while staring down images of Myst. We reveled in various games’ unlocked achievements, cascaded tiles, deciphered secret codes, and manipulated picture frames that somehow became castle keys. We had entire text conversations which consisted of “This level./I KNOW.” When my Dad first got sick, I sent him The Room, a stunning and immersive game- the kind that made {Read More}
