“And why do you want to know about mutual funds?” Matt said to me, as we got ready for bed last night. “For a blog post,” I said. (I wish you could see his face sometimes.) He crawled into bed, and I went downstairs to click away on the keyboard. This is what it’s like at our house. A mutual… Read More
Do You Use The Words of Joy?
Last night I posted a picture on Facebook of my new Dutch oven, so I could thank my mother-in-law for the wonderful Christmas gift. In the bottom of the pan I had onions, carrots, and celery being sauteed in oil, as a soup base. A friend commented on my lovely mirepoix, and I knew what she was talking because I… Read More
Afraid You’re Going to Mess up around People?
First day of school today, guys, and how could I not write about it? My new room is perfection, if I say so myself. Verb folders are prepared and waiting for unsuspecting freshmen. There’s a fake apple that looks for real sitting on my desk. Not sure what to wear, but I imagine the bed will be covered with a… Read More
A New Kind of Romance
Last year we used Christmas money and invested in two kayaks. We could see our last little bird (with very big feet and a penchant for bow ties) flying out of the nest soon, and those two kayaks were our declaration that we would continue to enjoy each other when the nest became quiet. Today is our 24th wedding anniversary… Read More
Start Your Monday with Power
My boy got his first job, at a terrific burger joint downtown. It’s an old fashioned soda counter and candy shop. He said yesterday a man came in from down south who was on a road trip to the north country, and he told Caleb this Kalispell landmark was one of the places on his list to experience. Caleb gets… Read More
Easter, Valentines, And A Good Man
I was stretched out next to him on the couch one evening, and something made me think of old English literature. Quote the Canterbury Tales Prologue for me, I said. Naaaaah, he said. Pleeeeease. Quote it for me. Batting eyelashes. And so he began to quote –stage voice locked on and right hand raised quite Shakesperianish. Whan that Aprill, with… Read More
On Being Hard To Offend
I could see the panic in her eyes the second after she pushed the cart. She could tell it was going to crash into my car, so in one of those slow-mo’s she attempted to catch it, without success. At the same time I was doing hand signals to try to get her to relax. Because really? If she were… Read More
So You’ve Fallen Short
It’s hard to decide what to love him for the most –the fact that he planned this little getaway for us, to dangle in front of me through the grief and stress of this last season of life –or that he got up first and made coffee. He is a good man. I lay on the king-size, pillow-top mattress, under… Read More
Do the Math
Should I tell you that I use a calculator when I grade student papers? 30 total points minus 2.5. Ummmm. Do it in your head, dad would say. This was usually at the kitchen table, with a box of Kleenex and a math book sitting in front of him. Bless him. No dad tried harder to work numbers into his… Read More
Feel Like Hurtin’ Somebody?
At 11:30 the teenagers filled the hotel room next to mine, and it seemed only a thin shower curtain hung between me and their raucous chatter and laughter. I felt like a crotchety old lady who wanted to go bang on their door with my cane. You young people keep it down! But I took the coward’s way and called… Read More