One year in, a pandemic poem

One year in, a pandemic poem To hear me read the poem, click here. February 2020, when we look back now, it almost seems funny, A whole year has passed in the blink of an eye, (read: agonizing slog; a lifetime’s gone by). As we licked envelopes for our Valentines, freely, our hopes were still bright, our nerves still so steely. 2020 was ...

Why am I so scared?

Dear friend, I hope this finds you well. Or, you know, as well as possible during this time. I hope you are finding yourself with as much health, both physical and mental, as one can muster. This time is (well, I don’t want to be trite, and refer to this time as “unprecedented” so I will, instead, use ...

COVID19 is making me feel like a bad mom.

(What I have done for the last 2 months: yoga every day. What I have not done for the last 2 months: felt, in any way, relaxed, calm, peaceful, or zen.) *** try (verb):  make an attempt or effort to do something; an attempt to achieve or attain.  trying (adjective): difficult or annoying; hard to endure. Has any other homonym been more applicable during ...

Two hands

Two hands. Sometimes, having two hands feels sufficient. With two hands I can tickle my son until he squeals. With two hands I can give my daughter a relaxing face massage. I can open most jars, clean up most messes, do most TikTok dances. Often, two hands feel like they cannot do enough. They feel futile; laughable; ...

My Top Five Tips For Parenting During This Scary Time

I was just straightening the pile of towels that the kids and I had folded this morning when it hit me: my kids folded towels, this morning. They are not folded in the perfect squares that make the control freak in me feel most comfortable, but nothing about our lives today, quite frankly, makes the ...

My children have a different accent than I do

"Now, everyone, take out your R and J," said Mr. Segal, as he paced, slowly but excitedly, at the front of the classroom. It was 2000. Mr. Segal was my high school English teacher, and he emanated passion an inspiration as only supremely gifted high school English teachers do. I was lucky enough to have him for both ...

Sometimes, the story just writes itself.

“Mom?” Belle asked, licking the last bit of chocolate icing from the back of her hand. “Mommy? Do you still blog?” We were sitting in the hard, plastic bucket seats in the single terminal at the Cyril E. King Airport in St. Thomas, and she’d just eaten an individual Sarah Lee chocolate cake square, after I veered her ...

Babysitting

originally published on this here site, over four years ago, and I still feel the very same way! Photo circa April, 2014 -- Beau's former signature move. Today, he is still just as crafty, he is just a lot taller.  Or, as I like to call it, “Why everyone who wants to be a parent someday should babysit ...

happy place

Do you have a happy place? A spot on this earth where you feel most at peace, or joyful, or zen, or brimming with glee? Where you feel most like you? At the moment, I have a few: In my kiddos' arms, With my head on Kenny's shoulder, St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and, Haverford College. For years, I would visit Haverford ...