The kids were dropped off, the kitchen cleaned and the laundry started. I was just about to sit down for some quiet time when my phone rang. Breathless and desperate, my twelve-year-old daughter lamented that she’d left her art homework […]
It’s hard to live in Minnesota in March. Already weary from the long winter, it feels so unfair to wake up to forecasts of snow, cold and rain while the rest of the country is walking on sunshine. We are […]
This morning, I read a private journal entry from one year ago. In it, I was processing (ok, venting) about a source of pain and frustration in my life. It is almost verbatim what I wrote over the weekend about […]
Disney World was feeling anything but magical. The heat index was 114 and I thought I would melt right into the sidewalk. My annoyance over the oppressive heat was rivaled only by my irritation that it was so crowded. We weaved through […]
A couple of years ago I arrived home one day to find a Ninja blender on my driveway. Confused, I brought it inside and called Kohl’s to ask what happened. Apparently my account had been hacked and the perpetrator ordered […]
Every working mother’s dream is to cart her young child along to an appointment. I recently found myself living this dream when my childcare blew up right before a pivotal meeting that had been hard-won and even harder to schedule. Unwilling to risk […]
The mess in my children’s bedroom stopped me in my tracks. Beds unmade. A tub of legos spilled onto the floor. Stuffed animals strewn in every nook and cranny. Clean, folded clothes parked on heaps dirty laundry. Wrappers and McDonald’s toys littered […]
My son’s yearbook spins a tale of happy kids making their way through the adventures of kindergarten. But behind the pictures of toothless grins in front of lockers, giggles with classmates and explorations on field trips, a completely different story was playing […]
One of the delights of country living is the watching the landscape change with the seasons. I have a front row seat to the lazy transformation of fields from whitewashed in winter to windswept russet in early spring. I anticipate […]
There are two words I have never heard anyone use to describe me: silent and still. My kids might tell you I cry out for silence and stillness all day, every day. But silence and stillness are disciplines that I […]