Old School Posts

• Happiness Is Here

  Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. Nathaniel Hawthorne I have never been a big fan of butterflies. Not sure why. Obviously, they are gorgeous little critters. Full of color and charisma. Mayb

• Listen to Life

  A baby is born. And she is beautiful. She is a good size. She is screaming. Pink. Perfect. 9/9 Apgar. A text is sent: She is here! Time passes. Moments. Minutes. Another text: Something's not right with her ears. Four days pass and no one knows. Can she hear now? Will she ever hear? Will sh

• Can I Be a Little Girl Again? (Pretty Please.)

  Several weeks ago, a fellow Preschool mom invited Toddler and me to a tea party. Not just any tea party. The Madeline Tea Party at the Carlyle. Though Toddler does not know much about Madeline and I do not know much about tea parties at fancy hotels for little girls, we accepted. This morning

• Show Your Cards. Tell Your Stories.

  Last year, right before Mother's Day, I wrote a blog post. One I loved. One I never published. Today, I muster the courage to do what I couldn't bring myself to do a year ago. May 5, 2009 Mother Nature's Day Three years ago, I was mere days from what was supposed to be my first due dat

• Close the Door

  "Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer." Barbara Kingsolver * Do you write for yourself or for others? Do you live for yourself

• Half His Age

  {Husband & Little Girl. On the walk home from the ice cream store. April 2012.} It is not lost on me that I am now half the age he was when he died. I am 33. He was 66. It is not lost. I think about this. About age. Is it just a number? Or is it more than that? Is it a reflection? Of who I

• ILI Interview: Author Shari Storm

  I've said this before, but one of my very favorite aspects of blogging is the enlightening conversations it has facilitated with other authors and bloggers. One such author/blogger/financial industry exec/mother force? Shari Storm. Shari is the author of the recently-published book Motherhood Is the

• I Sit Here Shaking. And Smiling.

  Okay. Deep breaths. This is hands down the scariest post I've ever written and published here at ILI. (How's that for a hook?) I sit here. At Starbucks. At my little table in the back. I am plugged in. Looking out. At a soggy city day. Looking in. At my soul, my struggles, my self. My self

• The Leaf Party

  Do you remember running and jumping in leaf piles when you were little? I do. Do you remember the crispness, the crunch, the surrender, the smiles? I do. Do you remember feeling free, and young, and invincible? I do. Do you remember looking up, at the big blue sky and thinking there are

• A Late Realization

  Something occurred to me the other night. This something should have probably occurred to me on New Year's Day 2007 around six in the evening when I gave birth to Toddler. And then again on October 19, 2008 a little after two in the afternoon when I gave birth to Baby. But no.  It took Hus