Before we went to Jerusalem, I had an exchange with my friend Aidan about how mothers universally doubt themselves. This is simply and inherently part of the terrain, she said, and I agree. But for days after our conversation I found myself thinking about those moments – rare, but important – where I have trusted [...]
On September 1st I took Grace and Whit on a last summer adventure. We drove about an hour north to the beach. The day was magical. It started out with Grace noticing a rainbow in the cloudy sky – not the standard arc but literally a patch of rainbow among the clouds. I thought of [...]
Amazing Grace (John Newton) Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear The hour I first believed. Through [...]
It was just a regular morning. Clear and cold; it finally felt seasonal after a few oddly, swampily warm days. The kids were quiet in the backseat, listening to the Boston Pops’ Sleigh Ride on the radio. Out of nowhere, I asked, “Hey, guys? I have a question. If you had to say one thing [...]
Last Sunday, while the gingerbread men were in the oven, Grace, Whit and I had a Christmas carol danceathon Grace and I have a book we hand back and forth in which we write to each other. Some of the book’s pages have prompts, and others are blank. It’s been a very effective way, so [...]
This is my every morning. I park the car, we walk into school, first to Whit’s building, and then to Grace’s. I always trail them up these steps, for some reason, watching their bodies skipping towards the door. Lately I’ve had the physicality of motherhood (and childhood) on my mind, and it is never more [...]
Thanksgiving was full of experiences that carried the mantle of important, moments I could feel turning to memories even as I lived them. Most of all there was our Friday evening celebration of my in-laws’ 45th wedding anniversary and the 9th anniversary of my father-in-law’s successful heart transplant. My in-laws had their three sons and [...]
This bird, which I think is a sparrow, has lately taken refuge in the corner of our front porch’s roof every few days. The first time I saw him I had to look again, closely, wondering if he was alive. I stood in the open door, watching for long minutes before I grew quiet enough [...]
Whit lost his third tooth this weekend. As usual, I cried as I hugged him, celebrated one of life’s passages even as I mourned it. Is there a more tangible marker of growing up than teeth falling out? I don’t think so. Later that day, Grace and I were driving home from her soccer game [...]
Dear Grace, Today you are nine. I realize I’m an enormous, pathetic cliche, but: how? How did this happen? The day you were born – in a downpour more torrential than any I’ve seen since – was moments ago. And yet somehow in those minutes we have crammed nine years of living. In the last [...]
