Tatooine is a planet with two suns. It's always hot there. And dry. - LittleMan, on Indian Summer Our apartment gets freakishly hot this time of year. It's a long space, with south-facing windows along one side (no cross-current), and when the sun hangs low in the autumn sky it feels like it's sitting right on our deck, beaming straight into the livingroom. I love the light -- LOVE it -- but with so many outward signs of the changing seasons (longer shadows, shorter days) the warmth feels...stubborn, somehow, like Nature dragging her feet, and it can make me impatient: I'm ready to ... [READ MORE]
The Passing of the Seven Fishes
October 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The fish keep dying. First, Gold Dubloon, a prize from summer camp, who thrashed around and turned sort of gray and swam upside down in manic circles until my husband urged me to take the children to another room. Then his replacement, Scooby Doo, who enacted a similar twitchy death dance on our bookshelf while my husband and I ate a silent dinner and tried not to watch. We waited a few weeks, traveled a bit, came home, and during the first week of school made a Monday afternoon pilgrimage to the pet store for two fighting fish, one black and one orange. We christened them Scooby Too ... [READ MORE]
The Delicate Decisions and the Damage Done
October 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Before Breakfast: "I think I'm going to be Luke Skywalker for Halloween, because Luke has a green lightsaber and I got a green lightsaber for my birthday." "Makes sense. Let's do it." En Route to School: "You know, I saw that you put my Lightning McQueen costume in the bag to give away, but I think I should try it on, because I might like to be Lightning McQueen for Halloween." "You were Lightning McQueen the past two years, Bud. Don't you think you want to mix it up?" "Well, I was going to change my mind and be Luke Skywalker but we already have the costume so I think I should wear ... [READ MORE]
Only Human
October 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This morning finds me pondering the million-and-one tiny injuries we inflict on one another along this journey. The child, testing the power of words, hurls an "I hate you!" across the room. The parent picks the wrong battle -- say, the brushing of the toddler's teeth after a long and challenging day -- and after fighting through clenched jaws and enduring wall-shuddering screams, gives up and puts the child to bed, crying. The child kicks the mother in the shins. The baby bites her shoulder. The mother yells, and startles the toddler. The child yells, throws a toy, nicks the paint on ... [READ MORE]
Riding in Cars with Moms (and Fun.)
September 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Every time Don McLean's American Pie is on the radio, my husband stops what he's doing and turns up the volume. As he listens, he talks about hearing the song for the first time in a Volkswagon Rabbit convertible with his mom one summer, how she exclaimed, "I love this song!" and turned up the volume herself. I do not know exactly how old he was when this memory was formed -- ten, thirteen years old? But I know that not long after she would endure a brief and aggressive battle with cancer, and that she would pass away at age 48, leaving her 15-year-old son with -- among many things -- this ... [READ MORE]
Birthday
August 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Though the Rim fire burns hundreds of miles away, a thick, purple cloud of smoke lay like a blanket over Lake Tahoe as we drove over Donner Pass on Friday evening, the final weekend adventure before back-to-school. On Saturday morning, we woke at dawn to air thick with the soot and the smell of it, the lake barely visible, the sun bleeding red in the sky. Eventually, as the sun rose and the winds began to move things around, it was clear enough for a walk, and my sister and I ventured out with the girls in their various transports: Babygirl in her jogging stroller and my niece snuggled in ... [READ MORE]
Close
August 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Early July. The kids and I arrived in New York City a couple of hours behind schedule due to weather, overheated and overtired and overexcited to be on such an adventure, together, for the first time. Our first stop was the Upper East Side apartment of our dear college friends; the following afternoon we would take a bus to their house in Bridgehampton. Only the husband, the onetime roommate of my husband (oh, the stories we share), was in the city, his wife and three children having already decamped to the beach. As our tired host graciously served up pizza at 10pm and poured me a glass ... [READ MORE]
