Like many of you fine people, I appreciate a good dose of irony. In literature. In life. In Alanis Morissette lyrics. (Hey. Let’s not get nit-picky.) Still, there’s something a little bit ironic I can’t support when it comes to parenting. And that irony is this: The very act responsible for creating a baby becomes […]
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What Happens in Writing Group Stays in Writing Group Except When it Doesn’t
*Below is my response to a ten-minute writing exercise from our February meeting. The prompt: Describe “That Moment.” My friend Charlene shared hers first. She inspired me to share mine, too. — We were at brunch, just the three of us, a special treat, for sure. I probably had an omelet with a bagel and cream […]
Mother Knows Best
In my earliest memories, she wears a long blue robe and smells like coffee. My dad offers goodbye kisses to her, my little sister and me. Then he goes to work. He’s a high school Spanish teacher. My mother’s work is us. She is young, in her early twenties, ironing clothes in our den. Love, […]
The Graduate
My insides are humming. The low-grade buzz of bewilderment mixed with nerves and how did we get here? In my head, a gaping space. Hollowness. I don’t remember. So I freeze like a statue in the kitchen while the bread toasts. Memories present themselves for inspection. Slowly at first. Then, all at once, these details […]
When You Lose Something You Can’t Replace
Are you sick of hearing about our house fire yet? Don’t worry. I am, too. But bear with me through a final post on the subject. It’s one I have avoided because I hate to cry when I type. But in the end, this isn’t about me. Not directly. It’s about an assignment I did […]
Hands Down
“I love you.” I say it all day long. No joke. I tell my kids (who sometimes mumble it back and sometimes speak clearly). I whisper it into my dogs’ ears while they lick my face and I try not to think about where their tongues have been. I text it to Bill if he’s […]
A Nightcap By Any Other Name Still Smells…oh hell, I’m too tired for this.
So recently, Bill and I attempted a date night. Except when you’re in your forties and married over fifteen years it’s less like Date Night and more like Thursday. At 5:30 PM. But it’s not as if we’re senior citizens. I mean, we completely skipped the Early Bird Specials and focused on the words Happy […]
To ink or not to ink…
You might recall I’ve been exploring various ways to commemorate the Joys of Summer; first with Botox, then with the Brazilian wax. I’ll spare you the suspense now: I pursued neither of these activities having deemed them both expensive and temporary. (Plus—in the case of Botox—potentially paralytic; and—in the case of the Brazilian—excruciatingly painful.) They’re both […]
Today call me peeved.
Today call me peeved. As in pets. But not Pet Peeves. (Like when people wait until the checker has rung up all their groceries before fumbling in their bags for a checkbook. And also people who write checks.) No, I’m talking about actual pets. Who peeve. (Although I hate the word peeve; but that’s a […]
Prompt
Prompt. It’s a great word, right? Who doesn’t love a single syllable that commands three parts of speech in six tiny letters? I suppose those letters are—in and of themselves—not necessarily tiny. But it felt right to say “six tiny letters.” And you know how some things just feel right? (Like ninety-degree pool water. Or […]