This morning, Adam’s car wouldn’t start. This is no surprise. For the past six months, it’s needed a jump every week or so. A few weeks ago, we took it to the shop after trying for an aggravating half hour to get it to start (and finally succeeding), then left it there for five days over the New Year’s holiday. We thought it was a problem with the electrical in the car because the radio and dashboard lights have completely stopped working. A little research, and we figured out it’s a defect in …
everyday life
August Break
A few years ago, I got wind about this thing called The August Break. It was a blogging thing, a thing where you took a break from blogging for the month of August. Or, at least, a break from the writing part. You were still supposed to post a picture every day and let that picture hold space for your words. I spent the month doing just that, exhausted still from our move north and trying to figure out what blogging meant for me anyway. And I was trying to figure out what living back in New York …
Gratitude, Humility, and Lying on the Floor
A few years ago, I took my kids to the Lamberton Conservatory on a Saturday afternoon in winter. It was cold and I was sick of being housebound. So, I grabbed my camera and the three of us headed to the conservatory to see some greenery and hopefully beat away some of the winter blahs. The conservatory is filled with tropical plants and lush greens in one room, and cacti and desert plants in another. The walls and ceilings are made of glass. Tiny quails scurry across the floor, and turtles and …
Questions, Wonder, and Curiosity
Last week at an end-of-the-year class party, Lily received an award from her teacher for being most inquisitive in the class. She shook her teacher’s hand with a big smile on her face, then ran over to show me. A tiny clip art detective with a giant magnifying glass was smack in the middle of the page. “This is wonderful,” I told her. I was having a moment of mommy pride. Other kids received awards for being fashionable or remembering every vacation they’ve ever been on. Some got awards for …
The Last Day of May
I am sitting outside of a local deli with my husband and son. It’s the last day of May, a sunny and warm day at the end of a rainy and cold month. The sky is blue and the breeze is slight enough to lift my hair every so often. Josh complains that he’s too hot in the sun, and Adam and I look at each other and smile. It’s seventy degrees and sunny, but Josh is four-not-quiet-five and finicky in his own way. He sips his blue Gatorade and asks for us to open the umbrella at our table. Adam does …