Eight Tips for Living the Good Life

I’m now over 40. How much over, never you mind. It took this long to realise what I can control to feel content and satisfied most days. I’m no expert, but here are my suggestions for The Good Life. What would you add to the list? Wear what makes you happy.  Follow the trends if

The Eight Signs of Success

Dear child, As your parent, I’m responsible for teaching you many crucial skills and lessons. I’m responsible for making sure you eat an actual fruit and/or vegetable, at least once a day. I’m responsible for teaching you to care for your body, and no, showers are not optional. I’m responsible for making sure you treat

Waiting and Patience

Remember our old friend, Waiting? He used to hang out with Patience, but now that I think of it, I haven’t seen either of them for quite a while. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of Quick and Easy, I’m human after all. Next day delivery is magical, but what have we traded for

Love is Three Flavors of Jello

My son was scheduled for a medical procedure in which the day before he has to be on a clear liquid diet. Not fun for anyone, but especially not for a growing, typically ravenous tween. To try to alleviate some of the misery, we went overboard buying about every single item on the list of

Praise for Our Teachers

Shark! Wait, no, it’s ok. Everyone back in the pool, it’s just a teacher on a Zoom call. After the longest year of our lives, I felt compelled to write a letter of gratitude to the teachers and support staff who kept our kids learning. In the midst of a global pandemic, with their own

Experiences Over Things

My family was fortunate to take a road trip to the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains recently. This wasn’t our usual spring break trip, but wanted to do something as safely as possible. Between being able to drive, rent a stand alone house, and enjoy the outdoors, we figured it was the best choice

I’ve Been Missing You

My dear little one, this morning you were annoyed with your silly mom for watching an old video of three-year-old you pretending to write and perform a song in your bedroom. Recording through the open crack in your door, I observed you “writing” down your lyrics as you practiced them out loud. Once you were

In Search of Empathy

For every happy, thoughtful post, there is the challenging day that doesn’t get shared. For every  parenting success, there will soon come a parenting stumble. Every job success is tempered by internal politics and optics. No one has perfected living through this life, and if they claim to, you might want to check what they’ve

A Boy Mom on International Women’s Day

Today, March 8, 2021, is International Woman’s Day. As a woman, I think we are pretty amazing creatures. I’m grateful to those in my life that have encouraged me to be the person I wanted to be, regardless of societal expectations and standards. As a young girl I wasn’t interested in dresses and long, often

Voices

Stop reaching out, you’re just bothering them. Nobody wants to hear your good news, they just think you’re bragging. You always say the wrong thing. Nobody cares. He looks annoyed, what did I do? Just say you’re fine when they ask, you don’t have any reason to complain about anything. Stay quiet, you talk too