Old School Posts

• On Freedom & Motherhood (Happy Birthday, Mom.)

  {A third daughter with her third daughter. Mom - you were the first to point this out.} A mother who is really a mother is never free. Honore de Balzac Mom. I sit here listening to Leontyne Price which of course reminds me of Christmas. And home. I sit here trying to think of things to sa

• Why Do Men Cheat?

  “Love is a game in which one always cheats.” Honore de Balzac Calm down. This post isn't about me. Or Husband. This post is about men. And in particular, powerful, political men. Why do they cheat on their often very beautiful wives? And why do they do so in such conspicuous, offensive w

• Second Chances

  My older sister is in town with her family. In a little while, we will all congregate at Mom's. The kids will do kid things like watch Diego and chase each other around that big wooden dining table I ate at as a girl. They will scamper and squeal. We adults will do adult things like talk and deb

• Stranded

  She sat there. A young mother flanked by two twirling girls. Her tired eyes darted between her babies and her bags. A clumsy stack of carry-ons and a car seat and a stroller waited nearby. She fiddled with her phone. She doled out snacks. She broke up skirmishes. And she waited. She waite

• Confession: I Breastfeed My Blog

  Sure I do.  Because my blog is my baby.  And everyone - the media, the fellow moms, the scientists - keeps telling me that breast is best. That nursing this being is a labor of love and good in the long run.  That if I sacrifice sleep in these early days, that if I invest this time and energy up

• I Am a Woman. And I Write Fiction. (Uh Oh?)

  I don't know where to begin, but begin I will... I am a woman. I am a writer. I am interested in telling stories about existential grays. About life and love and relationships and philosophy and pain. I have high hopes. With but one book under my writerly belt, I am still a rookie, but I do hope

• My First Due Date

  Today. May 8. It was to be my first due date. I remember having that lunch outside. It was summer and sunny. We decided we were ready. Ready to try. This decision brought smiles to our faces. And we tried. And before I knew it I was in my little bathroom staring at a stick of plastic and a

• Where I've Been (Part One: The Woods)

  My post-vacation mind is soft. The sharp edges and critical corners are missing for now. Instead, there is a sweet swirl of images. Images of where I've been. Images of North Pond. Of big fish and big love. Of life and legacy. Of family and freedom and fireflies. Of trees, tall

• The Reasons Why

  Over the past couple of weeks, many people (friends, family, strangers, Nanny, baristas) have recommended that I go see the movie Julie & Julia. I'd seen the movie posters on local bus stops, the portrait of two women, two different women, separated by a generation and one measly letter in t

• Say It

  Yesterday afternoon, I walked Toddler to her art class at the Children's Museum. On the way, a fire truck zoomed by with its sirens screaming. Toddler jumped up and down with excitement. "A fire truck!" she shouted. "A fire truck!" And then another truck passed us, this one more slowly. Toddl