I knew what I was seeing before I knew what I was seeing. My brain worked hard to protect my mom heart. What is that? Is that a highlighter? I pulled the top off not to expose a highlighter tip, but rather a menthol pack. Oh. OH. My fifteen-year-old culprit daughter was in the basement working on…
“I can’t imagine what it feels like,” I heard myself utter in quiet dismay. I watched from behind the news reporter and the camera as my clients were asked “Why? How does it feel? Why do you love your sons? How do your sons feel? Why fight this battle? What is next?” The big tv…
My house was still on the eve of Anna’s first day of senior year. My stiff upper lip was fatigued and faltering. The mantra in my mind that I would see her tomorrow was of little comfort. The calendar was not my friend as this night before the start of high school landed on a…
“Mom, I signed myself up for the COVID vaccine. Can you take me on April 8th?” My sixteen, nearly seventeen, year old daughter at the time decided for us. Her fourteen-year-old sister followed suit a few weeks later when the age was expanded to include her. “Mom, you can sign me up on Monday for…
18 days. Eighteen whole days. Eighteen full days with my daughters to love, to cherish, to have and to hold, to not be obeyed, to get annoyed, to lose my temper, and to count down the days until they return to their dad… But eighteen uninterrupted days! Days to fully feel like a mom and be fully immersed…
I have been thinking about you a lot since April 5, 2021 – the day you left this world and took your talent with you. My heart has been sore and heavy since. I know you read some of my blogs – you told me. You told me it was a gift to share my…
I spy the basket full of folded newspaper pages. They are the pages pulled from The Oregon Coast Today and Lincoln City News Guard – two local papers my dad picks up from the grocery store on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In my six-month absence from a coastal visit, the accumulation is large. Comprised only of…
“Mom, I need to go to the doctor,” Sophia matter-of-factly stated. “Something isn’t right.” I didn’t spot the signs. Amidst the pandemic taking away her first real day of high school, her 14th birthday having just passed, and navigating new friends and classes remotely, I can say it would have seemed impossible to know. But…
“Anna! I don’t know why you won’t listen to my advice. I am telling you this for your own good. You need to know how to advocate for yourself!” I was getting on her for something inconsequential. Telling her she should do this, she should do that – reciting by heart the common refrain heard…
Divorced nearly 30 years ago, Susan shares how a horrific accident reminded a divorced couple of the one thing they could always agree on. He opened his eyes and saw the stars. The roof of his Prius was gone. His hand dangled from the end of his arm. Benjamin had safely driven west over a thousand miles…
