Parenting
In 2017, a girlfriend and I went to visit our mutual bestie in Colorado. We drove through the Rockies, drank microbrews, ambled along the pedestrian mall in Boulder, and visited the Denver Botanical Garden. In downtown Denver, we stopped by a game store to look for a new board game
Travel
The dreams are starting again, sooner than I expected. In this dream, I board an overnight flight across the county and start a fresh day in New York City. Ascending the cracked, smelly subway steps into the noisy city air feels like a homecoming. I’ve barely slept, but who
Musings and Memoir
I wouldn’t mind being Ina Garten in my next life—a queen of simple, delicious cooking and entertaining whom Tina Fey suspects is only a figment of middle-aged women’s collective imagination. I’ve watched Ina’s cooking shows for years and just finished reading her memoir. She’s
Mental Health
Last weekend I spent most of my time in bed, or so it felt. I couldn’t muster the spirit to be a housekeeper, a cook, or a mom to either my pets or my child. Laundry was in smelly piles. The cat was constantly flicking fleas off himself and
Parenting
My son has reached a lot of development milestones this year, but one of my favorite is that he’s willing to sit down and watching baking shows with me. He decided to join me when he caught a glimpse of Halloween Baking Championship as the contestants were making something
Musings and Memoir
I went to the river alone. I’d asked my kid if he wanted to come with, and he didn’t, which might have been the best outcome that day. I needed quiet. It was a short drive from my house, and a short walk out of the parking lot
Parenting
My son turned a wooden toy fishing rod into a sniper rifle, using paper cutouts and a lot of that clear heavy tape we try to save for wrapping packages. It has a couple of grips on the bottom and a sight on the top. I sort of hate it.
Musings and Memoir
Letter to a tree at Sue-meg State Park, Trinidad, CA: I apologize that I’m not sure what kind of tree you are, although I studied many of your brethren in college forestry and botany classes. You remind me of a cypress. You sat, and presumably still reside, near the
About half the time I go shopping at my local supermarket, a big chain, there are AT&T salespeople posted near the exit. They are usually young, good-looking guys, clearly torn between accosting people to make a commission and hanging around looking at their phones. They usually make at
Musings and Memoir
I’m fortunate enough to have friends who treat me like family, no matter how much time passes between our seeing each other. They are people I can comfortably reveal myself to, and people whom I trust to take care of my kid. Trouble is, most of them live an
Parenting
There were raging arguments in the house last week. I almost couldn’t get my weekly essay finished, and am late on this one, because my writing domain at home is an office with a thin door that is almost splashing distance from the bathroom, where my son has been
Parenting
I think the term “threenager” is misleading. It implies that three is the only age that comes with teenage-style attitude. Maybe we all know it, parents, and the term only came about because “three” happens to provide a slant rhyme with “teen”. If there was a similarly rhyming word for