All-weather friends
When Tom and I were newly married more than 20 years ago, we became friends with a couple named Jim and Barbara. They were older than us and had two teenagers about to leave the…
Food: A tricky love affair
Food. I love it. I hate it. I hate how much I love it. Now that I’m staring middle-age square in the eye, food feels so much more complicated than it used to. When I…
Skipping into new lives
When I was a kid, one of my favorite summer outings was to a swim park called Willow Springs. It was a man-made lake full of things to play on – springy diving boards, a…
Letter to my iPhone…
Dear smartphone, You gave me a real scare yesterday. When I took you into the Apple repair shop, I figured some teenage tech wizard would wave a wand and fix the weird glitch you’ve had…
To all the teachers I’ve loved before…
With less than two weeks to go before school starts again, kids have never been more interested in teachers than they are right now. They’re practically stalking them. This happens every year. A few days…
Letter to my Ice, Ice, Baby
Dear Jack, You picked a good time to do a study abroad trip to Iceland. It’s so weird to know that one of my kids is on a remote island floating somewhere between the North…
Quiet is not weird
Despite what you might have heard, “quiet” is not weird. It’s not abnormal. It’s not suspicious. It’s not a threat. It is a personality trait common to at least half the population. But you might…
House rules
There are rules here. Every household has them, some stricter than others. Without them, there’d be confusion, chaos, maybe even war. Some rules are big, like “We don’t call each other names – ever.” And…
Generation gap on phone calls
One of the biggest differences between me as a 15-year-old girl and my present-day 15-year-old daughter is our experience with phone calls. I loved them because a huge chunk of my interaction with friends happened…
Bold theories about crown shyness
I have a thing for trees. I’m a fan. An admirer. If trees were in a rock band, I’d follow them from city to city and stand in the front row of every concert. My…