Tag: Family
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Just another gun threat
How has it become the norm to hear about guns in schools? How has it become commonplace to send our kids to school after there has been a threat? How did we get here?
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The Tray
When Len and I had just gotten married, my mother in law, Angela, bought me a big bamboo tray. While I thanked her with a smile, I internally rolled my eyes at the gift. I felt like her insinuation was that I would be a 1950’s-style housewife in heels and a skirt, serving her beloved…
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Our Bailey
We were hungover when we got her. My husband, Len, and I had stayed at a friend’s house in Annapolis and partied all night with our work friends. On the ride home, we looked over and saw the sign at our local PetSmart: “Adoption Fair today.” Still foggy-brained, we looked at each other and decided…
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A Much Needed Snow Day
January 17, 2022 It’s the most simple thing. Frozen water. But the joy it brings when it falls from the sky Is outsized. The first peek out the window as soon as the eyes open. The preparation- plentiful and cumbersome. Finding the hats, the scarves, the snow boots. Double socks, double pants. Layers, layers. The…
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Wildflowers
On the way home from a visit to Virginia two years ago, we stopped at her gravesite. It had been a whirlwind weekend, with my niece’s college graduation celebration, a brunch with our old neighborhood family, a visit with our old nanny. The kids were tired, Len and I were tired, and we still had…
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COVID Blessings
For my son it was time outside. Riding bikes, playing football, even fishing on breaks from Zoom calls. His lunch hour a race from his desk to the park. A leap of independence. For my daughter it was board games. Sitting at the table, with pizza or mom’s latest creation playing Monopoly, or Labyrinth. A…
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Back to Our Roots
In a holiday season that had more screen time than years past thanks to hunkering down for the COVID-19 virus, I recently sat to fold laundry and turned on the TV while my kids were busy in other parts of the house. I pecked around, wanting something that I could enjoy without having to pay…
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The Key to Happiness
What is the key to happiness? It’s a question we all ask ourselves. The answer, probably different for each of us. Thankfully I’m old enough now to know that the key doesn’t come in the form of a person, a body size, the perfect job, or things. That’s what forty years will teach you. For…
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A Viajar es Vivir
A viajar es vivir, my mom used to say. To travel is to live. I think she attributed the saying to a former president of Guatemala. My mom did travel. Mostly to her home country to visit and care for her mother and aunt. Sure there was the occasional trip by bus to her favorite,…
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The Roller Coaster of Quarantine
It’s become our quick hello of quarantine. “How you guys holdin’ up?” comes the passer-by as we sit on our front porch. “Oh you know, ups and downs”, followed by a quick example of either a high or low, depending on the mood. Ups and downs. Always both in the same day, sometimes in the…
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Does the End Overshadow the Life?
My mother had lived 73 years when she died. But my children, who were five and three at the time, only seem remember the end. Walking today with my youngest, Sophia, now 7, she asked me why her abuelita’s partner kept asking for help. What partner? Who could she be referring to? I asked some…
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The Cost of Moment of Escape
I just wanted to paint my nails. Its Wednesday in the third week of homeschooling and quarantine, and after a day of zoom classes, cajoling work out of the kids, making homemade split pea soup, I just wanted a break. A break from the family, a break from the kids. I just wanted to sit…
Landings: musings at life's intersections 