Preface: If in your mind’s eye you fancy me a sophisticated and/or elegant lady lawyer: number one – thank you; and number two – you should probably stop reading now. One of my favorite hobbies is hand stitching. My preferred medium is felt and sequins (think 1980’s childhood and me adoring the handmade ornaments my…
I get nervous just thinking about it – all of my co-workers rating me in all areas of my professional performance. Do I keep my promises? Do I approach my work with enthusiasm? Do I listen without interrupting? Every year I must remind myself why I actively choose to put myself through a performance review….
The text read: “Two tickets to Taylor Swift. You get first dibs if you want them.” My heart started beating a bit. I started nodding my head to Swift’s lyrics “Big reputation, big reputation” playing in my mind. Two tickets. Dang. I will have to pick – although really, the choice was made for me….
Saturday morning my eldest daughter called me very early. I knew before I heard her hysterical sobbing that something was very wrong. “He died,” she wailed. She and my younger daughter had just lost a man who was special in their lives. A man I did not know at all. A man they called Grandpa…
An unexpected traffic detour derailed my perfect attendance for her first day of school. For 11 years I have been photographing our daughters bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on their first days of school – as the family memory keeper and photobook maker. This year was unlike the others – one daughter started at a high school…
It was raining. But all I could see was her smiling face. I didn’t feel the drops falling on my work blouse. I didn’t worry about the curly hair on my head it was creating. I didn’t fret about not finding my umbrella. Her smile kept me quite unaware. My first-born daughter was about to…
Every year I buy a new box of crayons… for myself. The smell of the newly opened box takes me back to the stress-less days of my childhood. Potential waiting in the pointed colorful tips. I relish the back to school season. New teachers for the girls, the starting again of routine and schedules, more…
The handwriting immediately made me choke up. Her beautiful calligraphy stretched across the page in perfect lines. It was short and sweet. The notes for me, and each of my daughters pulled from an envelope marked “Passing On Papers.” After my Aunt Suzy’s death, her husband found them in her nightstand. My mom waited until…
A wave of nausea hit my stomach every time I thought about it. There was a conversation about our financial obligations for our kids that I needed to have with my former spouse that I did not want to have. I dreaded it. I delayed it. I downright ignored it. Our co-parenting relationship has been…
I could feel it before I could see it. I knew immediately that something was off. I walked down the courthouse corridor, unaware at first that I was walking directly down the battle line. I spotted my client and his family nervously waiting for me. I did not recognize, because they were strangers to me,…