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scout. a poem to her.
She wears gray Chuck Taylors and dull colored hoodies. She’s always buttoned down and smoothed over and tidy, but she’s never showy, and the shiniest thing she’s ever owned are the brand new sparkling diamond earrings she’s only recently acquired. She laughs easily but seldom loudly or exuberantly. When you catch a glimpse of silly or tear-producing laughter from her, you know you’ve been handed a gift and if you’re wise, you’ll join in and embrace the joke. She’s deep and her thoughts are logical and creative and she’s beautiful in a pure and pleasing way. I’m so glad to call her Daughter. ___________________…
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when I didn’t make a big deal about a rite of passage
When I was about eleven years old, I decided that I was desperate to get my ears pierced. My mom said, “Let’s ask your dad.” My dad said, “When you are sixteen.” Now, more than ever, as I journey along in my parenting adventure, I see that as he was a father of three sons and one daughter, I am completely confident that at the moment of my question my father determined the age of sixteen in a more arbitrary manner than I have planned next week’s menu. I think Dad just picked an age. Any age. As long as it was not whatever age I currently was. Sixteen? Sure,…
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Five Finds Friday (cute pottery and cute earrings and cute sons but not cute grocery bills)
A couple of sleepless nights, a week full of appointments and a little leaf catching on a windy fall day – that’s the quick highlights reel of this week I think. FUNNY The boys had a camp out last weekend. It was cold where they camped. (Really cold.) Their socks got wet. They shivered in their sleeping bags and stayed constantly dirty for three days. They loved it. Otto, who had won the bottle rocket contest at the pervious year’s camp out, set out with a rickety bottle rocket co-built by his brother to defend his championship title. He came back proud of his second or…
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black hole. a quiet black hole.
Lately I’ve been writing in the date wrong on papers. Penciling in 2017 instead of 2016 as if I’ve fallen into some unique-only-to-me black hole and I am currently the singular resident of The Future. Let me tell you then, guys. It looks about the same as the present. I’ve got no clever words to write tonight and I probably should get a little smoother and more adept at writing my blog posts ahead of time instead of my usual day-in-the-life kind of style where I write my thoughts down each evening. It’s been a FULL day but I haven’t photographed my life very well in the past several weeks.…
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Doodle Your Day: A Timberdoodle Review
I have always been a fan of journals and notebooks that encourage you to record some memory or some thought daily. I like them for me, personally. And – I like them for the kids as students. Sometimes I create journal topics myself for the kids to use in their school work and some years I know it will be much more productive to purchase an already planned journal for the kids to use. This Timberdoodle journal – Doodle Your Day – was given to my family in exchange for a review and it is one of the items in the box that the kids almost fought over. In…
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the divorce diaries – entry 6
I am living in this tension between two cultures – two ideas of right and wrong and normal and broken. This wild and difficult juxtaposition between the views of divorce. On the one hand, you have: The Huffington Post Facebook Television Movies Your second cousin And all of these sources tackle the topic of divorce in about the exact same way: This is just the way it is. It’s normal. Cut out the toxic people in your life. You deserve to be happy. You need to take care of you first. Be your own boss. Follow your heart. The kids will be fine. Monogamy is outdated. Kids are resilient.…
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this should not be unusual.
A few weeks ago I did the strangest thing. My phone’s battery died. We were out of town. I had accidentally left the phone’s charger beside the sofa at home. I watched the red light on my phone come on. Watched the warning words pop on the screen that predicted the battery’s soon-to-be demise. None of that sounds strange yet, right? No. Of course not. Here is what is strange. I let the phone stay dead. Like, I did not care. See you later cell phone. Toss it off the cliff or something. Who actually cares? And so, it was the best day. The most freeing night. I read a novel…
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Five Finds Friday (a town takeover & a blanket no-one needs (or do they?) & a tv show that I just love too much)
I think I missed last Friday’s post here. What was I doing instead? I can’t even remember. But here we are again – all Fridaying it up, you know. FUNNY This has been a pretty funny week. And I am ALL for that. I’m giving it the thumbs up and everything. The kids have created a town in the woods. They’ve organized it precisely, divided it equitably, have a currency and a governing agency that has been voted into existence. They aren’t messing around, guys. They adore having friends over and building new residences and hospitals and stores. (By the way, coal currency is king in…
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the divorce diaries. entry 4.
I find it bizarre (unsettling) how a title, a life, an entire thing can happen to you, be legitimately forced upon you and your only choice is to survive or to die. The label is there. boom. I’m sure there are loads of areas where this is true, but I don’t think I’ve fallen under many of them before personally and none so traumatic and dramatic as the hurricane that has been divorce. Even typing it hurts my fingertips. I can sincerely say that it feels as if divorce has happened upon me. Has happened to me. Like a disease. Like a terrible medical prognosis. Like a death. And…
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The Puzzleball Globe: A Timberdoodle Review
Our family loves puzzles. Every year for Christmas there will be a puzzle under the Christmas tree. Actually, I prefer to leave the puzzle under the tree, all wrapped up, until the day after Christmas. And then, on that quiet day-after morning, there’s one present left to open. Perfect for the after Christmas crash, we can just hang around the kitchen table, eat holiday leftovers and work lazily on a puzzle together. The last wrapped gift is a puzzle – and we all know it – but no one knows what the subject of the puzzle will be. (I like to match the puzzle’s theme to the previous year…
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Grove Collaborative Giveaway & Special: Don’t Miss This One
Oh friends. Today’s post has all the good stuff. It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned Grove Collaborative. It’s been a busy summer autumn year. I still love my monthly box deliveries from Grove Co. for all the same reasons as always. It’s a good deal on stuff I already buy. (Prices are lower than Target’s, which is where I usually buy my Mrs.Meyer’s products.) It’s so incredibly convenient. (I haven’t run out of dish detergent or hand soap or dish soap or sponges since I started using Grove Co. over a year ago.) It’s one less thing I have to think about and plan for and take care…
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the week is off and running – and so are my words
Last weekend we headed into the mountains with some friends to hike and camp and enjoy autumn. Our plans shifted rather dramatically, but they turned out to be lovely just the same. I’m in love with these gorgeous sunny days although my mind cannot comprehend that October is half way complete and we are barreling right into the holiday season that vanishes always with the blink of an eye. But enough about that, I can’t even bear the thoughts of that already. Sunday nights always feel a little like staring down the barrel of a gun. I guess you can tell by now that this…
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today was a good day.
Some days are brighter than other days. And on those days you collect all that good sunshine for the days that you know won’t be as bright. For the days you know you’ll need to tap back into to silence the voices telling you about all that you’re missing and about what your kids are missing. Days when the sun is hidden behind the clouds and the clouds are all gray. But today. Today was not a gray day. It was full of color and blue skies and crisp air and warm scones and cold cider. Filled up with memorized poems and pretty words and nature walks…
