I went to my calculator, and it figures to be over a thousand dollars –the total amount of money my dad had paid my kids when they got A’s. $20 for straight A’s, and they had to be perfectly straight, or $1 for every A. My daughter graduated summa cum laude a few years ago,…
About a half an hour from my mom’s house I thought I was going to be ill. Stomach knotted, I wondered how I could walk my own grief to the front door and face the mirrored grief of my mother. The next several days presented some of the most difficult challenges I have ever faced….
My poor blog friends, oh how you are whipped violently from my anxieties about writing, to my fears over a new job, to my angst over letting my baby get married and leave the nest. And now this –the death of my father. I will consider those of you who stay with me to be…
Okay, you’re going to say I’m weird, but this is just how I think y’all… It’s really cool to plan your dad’s funeral and your daughter’s wedding in the same year. Now don’t be depressed with that thought, because I’m not. Stay with me. Since mid December when that girl of mine started flashing a…
She never even stopped her movements when the turbulence rocked the little plane. She just kept taking inventory of the soda and little liquors. My hands were gripping the seat handles as we descended toward Denver International Airport, but her legs appeared to be well practiced at moving with the plane. I feel the same…
Mornin’! My friend, Lisa, has just written an ebook called 100 Ways to Love Your Husband. If you’ve read her insights at Club 31 Women, then you know how much practical advice she has to offer. If you’re looking to strengthen your marriage or if you’re about to get married soon (I say to my…
Number one is when that boy of mine stumbles down the stairs in the morning, to eat a bowl of cereal in his sleep –my first encounter with another human being for this day. I say, Good Morning, nice and easy, because I always remember Solomon’s advice, “He who blesses his friend with a loud…
My children grew up with beautiful Eric Carle books in hand. I read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? to my daughter 387,000 times. Then there was The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Busy Spider. My kids grew up, but I did not. Thus, my childish enthusiasm when I pulled La Mariquita…
We filled our plates with my mother-in-law’s chicken casserole and got comfortable in front of her big-screen. Because we got rid of satellite TV, my husband was a bit hang dog at our inability to watch the winter Olympics, so we pretty much invited ourselves over to his mom’s house. I like it there, because…
I did not expect to feel nauseous on test day. Come Thursday I had the students pull out pencils. (Lapices, por favor!) They stood up their manila folders as privacy shields (an ingenious anti-cheating idea I stole from another teacher), and I handed out the Spanish test. The room became completely silent, except for the…
I just spent the last five months waking up every day and saying, I cannot do this. As a brand new Spanish teacher, I entered a school where I knew NOTHING. I had to ask what I should wear, how to make double-sided copies, and what time I should be at work. I knew the…
Last night was one of those tossy-turny events where I alternated my anxieties among a variety of subjects. I worried about my kids and then other people’s kids. Worried about my husband’s worries about other people’s worries. Broke it up with some worries about how I would pay bills, tackle laundry, and load the dishwasher…
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