What She Said
I must be crazy because I want William to stay in third grade... Read more
I must be crazy because I want William to stay in third grade... Read more
It is a symptom of great wealth that a nation of educated women have time and money to spend on going back to time and labor intensive tasks. Read more
1) Seven trees tower over our house- majestic white oaks and enormous tulip poplars. When the wind blows, they sing. 2) Taco Bell. The love affair continues. Seriously, have you tried the steak chalupa supreme? If loving it is wrong, I don’t want to be right. 3) The Internet. When I got this weird insect bite on my thigh (there were three puncture spots…how does that happen?)…the internet. When I needed a recipe for Asian Maple Salmon…the internet. When I got curious... Read more
We spent the weekend with friends of ours who live in Northern VA. It was glorious. Their lives are really different from ours–they’re from the South, have 4 small children who say “sir” and “ma’am,” and they live in community with a number of other grown ups who help make their house a home. It was like a visit to a foreign land, and was more restorative to my soul than I can even describe. I read a great... Read more
This Thursday, I will celebrate Thanksgiving with international students who’ve come to Massachusetts for graduate school. We’ll board a bus in Harvard Square and head to New Hampshire for two nights of pies and hiking and board games. This will be my family’s fourth year of hosting this get-away, and it has become my favorite holiday. Each year we read Lincoln’s Proclamation, an invitation for the entire nation to observe the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving.... Read more
So it’s a Friday morning in the recent past. My oldest, The Solicitor (TS), is zipping along, getting ready to ride his bike to school with some friends. It’s also the Pink Goth’s birthday. (PG is my middle child, a girl. If you want to know why we call her that, read this post.) Somehow we have set a standard of three cake events for birthdays. One at school (usually cupcakes), one at home that night (decorated by siblings) and one... Read more
I’m ready for a Southern Living moment in my tiny, charming retro kitchen. My eager children are smiling in their tiny aprons. Little chubby, willing hands wait patiently for instruction. All ingredients are perfectly and prettily measured into stylish prep bowls – you know, in that annoying way they do on cooking show segments. (I particularly get a culinary kick out of the way they put the finished dish in the oven and the second oven already has a finished... Read more
In the fall, despite ourselves, we flirt with tree worshipping. Our main idol, a glorious, mature ginkgo, lives in our side yard. Her arms stretch upward, fifty feet, and her trunk bends at the base, leaving us in fear of a strong north wind. Come October, everyone watches her progress. The call, “The ginkgo leaves are starting to turn!” brings us all outside to inspect. Sure enough, the lime green leaf has a gilt edge now. Through the weeks, the... Read more
Zach insisted this fall that we sign him up for the more competitive, traveling soccer team. He lives to play soccer, and I assumed that he wanted to challenge himself against the best players. Halfway through the season, though, he lamented that the travel team wasn’t as great as he thought it would be. “But you love your team, you’re getting so much better, and you’re in first place. What’s the problem?” I asked. “I thought there was carpooling.” “What?”... Read more
I am wanted by the library. I have three kids. And I want to do right by them, you know? Which, apparently, according to all the “experts” like “teachers” and “social services” means schlepping them to the library regularly. Let’s call my oldest The Solicitor because he can talk the hind legs off a mule. Not that we have a mule. I guess he’ll have to talk the hind legs off his brother. He loves his cell phone, My Life is... Read more
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