Recently, my husband and I spent a week on vacation in the furthest, southern, sunny geography in the continental United States; south Florida. We also recently spent several rainy, winter months in counseling in Seattle, Washington. We didn’t choose to go to Florida, and if...
The kids' toys have invaded every room of my house and it's making me little crazy. Right now, there are three rooms in desperate need of painting, a brigade of dandelions invading my garden, and stacks of papers that have built up over a dreary,...
*Spoiler Alert for those who have not yet seen the movie, The Life of Pi. Last Saturday was a tough day. It rained. Hard. I fought. Harder. I cried. Hardest. I replied to a text sent by one of my best friend's asking me how I...
I have many things I should be doing right now. I didn't turn in my homework last night for my writing class because I couldn't seem to focus all week. I know I should be working on that, but I can't muster the inspiration for...
As much as I would like to be the kind of person who hears lines of poetry narrating their day-to-day life...
Today, I went to a second yoga session on my trip to Nicaragua. It will likely be my last here as we leave for home in a couple of days. It has been an illuminating, exciting and utterly exhausting trip. Caring for two toddlers is...
There are so many lessons to be learned when traveling to foreign countries, in particular, developing countries. I wrote last week about traveling for the first time as the mother of (and with) young children to Nicaragua. I am still here in Nicaragua as I...
When my husband first said let's take the kids to Nicaragua, I worried. I saw pictures of the place he wanted to stay and the first thing I worried about was the pool. Next, were all the unbaby-proofed pitfalls waiting around every jagged corner. The worries continued. How well will...
We have several wooden, peg puzzles for our children. I started purchasing them when our first child, our daughter, was barely a year old. We have letters, numbers, shapes, colors, animals...
The first draft of this essay was written in early October. I stopped writing it because I did not fully understand what I was trying to say. It started as a revelation of one of my most shameful coping mechanisms. I stopped myself from going...