One morning earlier this month I read Emily Parnell’s column in The Kansas City Star, entitled “Letting Out the Wild Child Within” (July 14, 2015). I laughed at her humorous account of her son’s time at summer camp, which she compared to Lord of the Flies. Her story took me right back […]
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Sounds of Cicadas
Many memories are triggered by milestone anniversaries—things that happened five or ten or twenty-five years ago. But this memory of mine returned because of a seventeen-year anniversary. The seventeen-year cicadas are back this summer. It’s been so rainy that I haven’t been outside to hear them much, but the news reports […]
Continue readingSpeaking of Regrets: A Mother’s Perspective
It dawned on me recently that my son graduated from high school fifteen years ago this year. His graduation ceremony was actually in May 2000, but I missed remembering the milestone last month. As I reflected on his graduation (once I did remember it), I thought about the different directions […]
Continue readingDaddy’s Date . . . No, Make that Grandpa’s Date!
The church where my sister was married had a very firm rule that any children who were members of the wedding party had to be at least five. My son, at age six, qualified to be a ring bearer. My daughter, who would turn three just days before the wedding, […]
Continue readingThe Evil Blue Pyrex Dish
I discovered as I cleaned out my parents’ house that there was a memory in every drawer and cupboard. The memories would surprise me—I had no warning of when one would strike. One afternoon when I was alone in the house I looked through kitchen cabinets, trying to decide if […]
Continue readingFamily Ritual: Reading Aloud at Bedtime
March is National Reading Awareness Month. I’ve written before about how important reading has been in our family, but my earlier post (here) focused on how my mother read to me when I was a child. My husband and I also read to our kids when they were small. We read […]
Continue readingShoe Shines and Parenting
My husband is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. More than forty years after he graduated, it is still the most formative experience of his life. Among the many things my husband learned at the Naval Academy was how to shine shoes. A spit-polished pair of shoes is the […]
Continue readingFriends: Sometimes Mothers Know Best
When I arrived at Middlebury College, I knew no one. The college did a reasonably good job of throwing freshmen together on a variety of activities, but friendships must develop at their own pace and in their own time. The day we moved into the dorm, I was wearing a […]
Continue readingHalloween Costumes: Making Good and Making Do
My husband and I have been invited to a Halloween party requiring costumes, and we are panicked. What will we wear? I’ve seldom put a lot of effort into Halloween. As I’ve written before, I am the pumpkin carver in the family, and we usually have a jack o’lantern for […]
Continue readingBack to School Across Two Generations
In recent weeks I’ve been following all my Facebook friends’ pictures of their children headed back to school—from the kindergarteners to the college-bound. I’m glad those days are behind me, though I have good memories both of my own back-to-school days and my children’s. When I was young, school never […]
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