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…
The furry graduate
Our 18-year-old son wasn’t the only family member who graduated this spring. But instead of a fancy diploma, the other “kid” got a Milk-Bone. He didn’t mind a bit. Our 15-year-old daughter, Kate, has a…
The encore no one asked for
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the airport, it isn’t. My husband Tom went on a quick business trip to New York last month, and instead of bringing back one…
What’s in your head?
There are plenty of sad things that happened in the past two years. But I think this may be one of the saddest. According to an article in Scientific American magazine, studies done last year…
Is senioritis contagious?
Is senioritis contagious? Because I think our nearly 18-year-old son, who will graduate high school this month, is spreading it like crazy. Our 15-year-old daughter has come down with a similar case of sophomore-itis. And…