I have a couple of friends -- real friends, women I genuinely like and enjoy spending time with -- who for a while I was seriously considering breaking up with on Facebook. I know that sounds passive-aggressive, and maybe it is, but I sort of reached a point where I couldn't take it anymore. Facebook is a truly, deeply weird planet. I mean, I am aware that every Facebook page is a carefully curated, highly edited version of real life; a place where our children's foibles are just cute as beans, and our hair looks good, and we're perpetually on vacation or at the pumpkin patch or scoring a ... [READ MORE]
Candid Camera
January 9, 2013 by 1 Comment
My sister had a baby four months ago. One evening about seven weeks in, she called me in a bit of a fluster. Her in-laws wanted to take them out for dinner, avec bebe, and the Little Niece simply wasn't having it. "So do you just, like, never go out after 6:30pm?" my sister asked. "Are we seriously having this conversation?" I replied. "When, in the last 4.5 years, have you ever seen me out after 6:30pm? Obviously I never go out after 6:30pm. Unless I have a babysitter, or a hall pass." "I guess so..." she hesitated, but I could hear her thoughts. "You totally thought that wouldn't ... [READ MORE]
Whose Idea Was This, Anyway?
January 8, 2013 by 1 Comment
There are certain things I like to do at Christmastime, dammit. I like to go to see the dogs (okay, and the cats too) in the windows at Macy's. Those Macy's people really know what they're doing. Standing there, with a hundred wreaths of lights twinkling above, and the motorized figure skaters in carefully curated outfits whirling across a fantastical San Francisco landscape, and the SPCA puppy ("Hi, I'm Deeter" reads his nameplate) gazing out all moon-eyed...well, that would be enough, wouldn't it? But on top of all that there is music playing: majestically festive music, swelling out ... [READ MORE]
What I Know Now
December 17, 2012 by 1 Comment
I remember where I was when Columbine happened. I was sitting, with my then-boyfriend-now-husband in the Rotunda Cafe at Princeton and the news was closed-captioned on the small TVs above the coffee counter. And I was appropriately aghast and appalled and saddened as befits a 20-something when Serious News Happens. I remember where I was when Beslan happened. I was living in London, and working part-time, and I watched the raid unfold on the BBC and I cried that night, into my husband's shirt on the bench at the pub next to our flat, that people do these things to other people's ... [READ MORE]
Share and Share Alike
December 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment
We are talking quite about the spirit of sharing these days. Not only to keep the peace at home -- which is important -- but also because it's the Season of Sharing, right? It's the time when we Do for Others, yes? LittleMan says, "I love Christmas. It's my favorite holiday." I say, "Because of the peace, love, and joy?" "Because of the TOYS, Mommy!" "OH! The toys, of course. I thought it was because of the lights and the music and the foresty smell of the tree in the livingroom." "I like all those things, Mommy. But I really like the toys too. I want ALL the toys."At this ... [READ MORE]
The Agony, The Ecstasy, and the Exhaustion
December 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I was browsing on Cup of Jo the other day, where I came upon this entry about the pros and cons of room sharing. I am a former room-sharer, having bunked with my younger sister until age 12, when we moved house and got adjoining rooms. My husband shared a room with his brother for about the same amount of time, until Big Bro started high school and needed his own space. So we had no qualms about having our children share a room, at least for as long as we live in our current apartment (i.e., the foreseeable future). Okay, I lied a little bit just there. We had a few qualms. Enough ... [READ MORE]
Departure Time
December 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
"Mommy, I need Lightning-That's-Fixed," moans LittleMan as I pack up the stroller. Lightning-That's-Fixed is, of course, one of LittleMan's Lightning McQueen die-cast cars. He is not to be confused with any of the following: Color-Change Lightning, Lightning-That's-Broken (obviously), Dusty Lightning, Lightning-With-Shovel, Talking Lightning, Lightning-With-Stickers, Blue Lightning, Lightning-From-Nana's-House, Lightning-That-Kathy-Gave-Me, or Lightning-With-The-Trunk-That-Opens. Each and every one of which I locate in the Cars bin in the kitchen within three minutes. But ... [READ MORE]
