One year after the tornado
A year ago, a tornado hop-scotched through our town. It was past midnight, and I was watching a movie at home with our teenagers. When our phones screamed a long, loud beep, we switched to…
Fat-burning fidgety shivers?
I used to be a fidgeter. I’d tap on things and bounce my leg so fast that Tom would sometimes reach over and put his hand on my knee as if to say, “Enough. That’s…
Rate the wait: What I learned in waiting rooms
I have a long relationship with waiting rooms. I’ve attended medical appointments for three kids, two dogs, one cat, and one husband. For nearly a decade, I also waited in rooms with my dad, which…
Is there a cobra in the dryer?
A windsock shaped like a hot air balloon with a spiral tail is suspended above our backyard deck. When the wind blows, the balloon spins, and the spiral twirls below it, catching my eye when…
Checking on the Covid Class of 2020
In 1995, I got my first job after college from a “help wanted” ad posted in a newspaper’s classified ads. (Remember those?) The headline on the ad said they were looking for an “aspiring journalist”…
Multitasking is a myth
Have you ever gotten good at the wrong thing? I think it might have happened to me. Yesterday, I read this article about the myth of multitasking — how what we once thought of as…
Let them sing
By Gwen Rockwood, newspaper columnist and mama of 3 Let me set the scene. We were at a restaurant with the whole family, including my mom, all three of our college kids, plus two roommates…
Tom Cruise made me do it
I’ve learned a lesson this week, and here it is: Sometimes, it’s okay to lower your standards. For the 26 years we’ve been married, I’ve told Tom that we would not become one of those…
Midlife math
My husband and I were born five years and two days apart in March. Since it’s birthday season again, here are 52 things I’ve noticed about turning 52. Numbers are not my thing. I struggle…
Left and right
When our three college kids are home for a visit and we go out to eat, we follow a protocol. We usually ask for a big booth and slide into it in a particular order…