It is Saturday morning and I'm making Star Wars pancakes in the kitchen while the kids wait expectantly in their chairs. They both want Yoda, of course, but there is only one Yoda mold, meaning I have to do two batches before we can put food on the table lest I be accused of the heinous crime of serving one of my children before the other. (As an aside, do your kids like Star Wars? Have you seen these? I bought them on a whim four years ago, thinking the whole time, Ugh, I am such a sucker, this is such a frivolous splurge, but you know what? Roughly 200 Saturday mornings later and it's ... [READ MORE]
Being There
June 9, 2016 by 1 Comment
I'm feeling a little bit under-appreciated by my kids lately. Can I say that? Is that selfish? It's summer vacation, and unlike past years when I froze in the face of tackling childcare/camp/travel for twelve weeks, this year I stared it right in the face and planned -- if I do say so -- a pretty fah-bulous summer break for my kids, complete with Lego Camp for the kickoff, a camping weekend, and no fewer than 3.5 weeks in Tahoe including 4th of July fireworks. BAM. I am #winning at summer. Except that we are, oh, 4 days in, and my kids are not sharing the feeling. Instead of being ... [READ MORE]
Chasing Waves
February 19, 2016 by Leave a Comment
It is a dangerous business, as a parent, to try to recreate perfection. Invariably it leads to disappointment, because any moment is really the sum of its parts: how well everyone slept (or didn't), how hungry they are, how much they really just wanted to stay home and chill quietly with that new book, who has a tummy trouble or a hangnail...I mean, these are little things but when you travel as a pack -- as families and friends so often do -- you may be dealing with all, or nothing. It's a delicate balance. I almost went back and deleted that word, perfection, because obviously nothing ... [READ MORE]
Failure: An Anecdote in Three Parts
January 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
I. Signs that you have not had enough downtime in the last six months or so: You get so excited just to be alone in an airport bookstore that YOU MISS YOUR FLIGHT. In my defense, the entire landscape of the SFO Terminal 3 has changed significantly since the last time I was on an airplane back in the Dark Ages. It’s all vast and light-filled and there are about 50 restaurants. Walking into it I was like a child who hasn’t seen the outside world before. Also, the flight left ahead of schedule by about ten minutes. (This, by the way, is why they advise you to be at the gate 30 minutes ... [READ MORE]
Aftermath
December 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment
I realized this year that the only day that makes me as happy as the day we decorate for Christmas -- and I LOVE that day: love buying the tree, love the everything-old-is-new-again wonder of pulling 3.5 decades' worth of ornaments out of the storage bin, love the way my kids dance around my husband who just wants to get the lights on before we start hanging things please and for heavens sake you guys, love the way the Manhattans taste just a little bit toastier in the glow of the lights, love it all -- is the day we take it all down and reclaim our living space. Much more than New Years ... [READ MORE]
Summer Coming
May 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Our closest neighbors are a colony of wild parrots. Actually, the city is dotted with several of these colonies -- yet one more point to add to the quirky, rebellious urbanity that is San Francisco. Only here would thousands of tropical birds mate and multiply and stake their claim on a city park. I can imagine the initial turf war between the parrots and the pigeons, these flamboyantly feathered friends dropping in on their drab, dirty cousins and declaring: This is San Francisco, bitches. Step aside. The parrots hunt -- as parrots do, I suppose -- at dawn and at dusk: rising like a ... [READ MORE]
Perfect
November 7, 2014 by Leave a Comment
My husband's favorite month is October, and for the longest time I thought mine was too. But strangely, I woke on November 1, 2014 feeling more optimistic than I have in months. While LittleMan and Babygirl staggered through the morning-after-Halloween in their various states of exhaustion and sugar-fueled bursts of energy (or tears), I blazed around the apartment, tearing down the paper bats and skeleton bunting, tossing out tired-looking pumpkins, and eventually re-arranging all the toys and purging yet more "baby stuff" that no one plays with or wears anymore. Practically whistling while ... [READ MORE]
