Sophia wanted her turn. We sat at the dinner table going through our days and she was anxious to share. It was a 7th grade drama – a mild version of mean girls. Sophia set the scene. “We were playing a trick on Josie and hiding her book. I don’t know why. It’s just a thing. So I told her I had her book. I didn’t. So I don’t know why I said it, but that’s what I told her.” I could see the snowball forming as she moved through her story. “Sophia, you are too dumb to have my
May 2023
When Santa came to visit my house for Christmas in 1984, he gifted me a Fisher-Price Kids Kodak 110 Film blue camera. It was the second-best Santa gift I ever received next to the “Pretty In Pink” Barbie from 1981. My camera came with a cartridge of eight flashbulbs to use indoors. I fancied myself a photographer while posing my Barbies, my cats, and my favorite Raggedy Ann doll around our backyard. Soon after the first set of prints were picked up from the film developer, my mom bought me my first scrapbook. I meticulously kept scrapbooks from 1984 to
Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution in which spouses meet with a neutral third party to reach agreements regarding the issues in their divorce. The mediator’s role is to help spouses understand each other’s interests, provide clarity regarding the issues, and help craft the parties’ agreements. Not all mediators in Nebraska are lawyers. However, if you want to mediate all of the issues in your divorce, including the division of your assets and debts, child support, alimony, and the parenting plan, for example, you need to work with an attorney-mediator. However, in mediation, the attorney-mediator is not allowed to
I stayed in bed because I knew I was supposed to. I pretended to sleep through the whispered arguments and the clanking of dishes. I peeked out from under the covers to see her proudly carrying the cookie sheet with her Mother’s Day display. I successfully feigned waking up rested and delighted to the breakfast prepared in my honor. How I choked down that very full bowl of soggy Special K, I will never know. My daughters, who were 9 and 7 that year, were trying their very best to make my Mother’s Day memorable. And they did. I will
I sucked in every molecule of air in the room when my dad’s doctor confirmed it was prostate cancer. After weeks of testing, we finally had the clarity that comes with results. Despite anticipating this would be the news, the tears streamed down my face. My dad had been through enough in the last seven months by going through two hematoma surgeries on his brain – didn’t he get a pass for this add-on? In the weeks that followed, I took detailed notes and read the summaries for multiple doctor appointments, my mom supported my dad with everything from his
