• Jagged little pill.

    So to make a long story short, my eldest son is not joining the Navy. He is no longer enlisted for reasons that are for him to explain to those he chooses, or not, should he choose to have them remain private. And yes, it goes without saying, that he retained full approval over my… Continue Reading

  • Wildings.

    At the beginning of the wild rumpus I made the sounds; heavy on the drumbeats suitable for monsters suitable for mothers of sons released into the wild. Things of rage, intemperate, frantic for a target; escaped from cultivation to an undomesticated landscape seeking nothing in particular, and the world in general. Laid at their feet,… Continue Reading

  • Versimilitude.

    The dresser drawer sticks – the metal handles slap loudly against its wood frame when jerked open; raw materials of the rites of passage, the childish, the criminal, the discarded; taken out of context and placed absentmindedly into storage. Red gift bag with teddy bear inside, red bow around its neck; Batman Sucks t-shirt; script… Continue Reading

  • Reality check.

    Sometimes I think I am an orange peel, floating by Salinger-esque; existing only in my mind. And then I stub my little toe on the corner of the damn black hutch in the kitchen.  

  • So sorry – but it’s better this way.

    Chris Rock used to do a bit about how the only thing women needed to survive was water, air and compliments. I think you can throw apologies and rationalizations into that mix. I myself seem to have been supported by these two emotional crutches throughout my existence.  I’m certain I apologized to my mother on… Continue Reading

  • An amateur marriage.

    Author’s note:  I tend towards sentimentality when Mike is away.  The fact that he is on an extended business trip may result in my writing kinder things than I would if he was in the same room with me, napping with his mouth hanging open and the TV remote balanced on his stomach.  We met while… Continue Reading

  • Brother, can you spare a dime? Nope.

    So I have three boys. Sorry, three men.  Men who watch SpongeBob in their underwear while eating Frosted Flakes out of mixing bowls, but men nonetheless.  At 16 and almost 18 and 20, they are quickly receding from boyhood. I can attest that they all came from the same place.  Well, roughly speaking – one was… Continue Reading

  • Congrats. Now get on with it.

    I am not the most sentimental of mothers. I began noticing the difference on my youngest son’s first day of kindergarten – surrounded by mothers wiping away tears while simultaneously sizing up my dry-eyed self and asking the inevitable question – Doesn’t it make you sad? Nope. Overjoyed, elated, exuberant, giddy…YES.  Sad?  No. I could… Continue Reading

  • Sisters.

    We are the center of gravity. We spin the earth on its axis and hold the planets in alignment. We command the seasons. We till, sow, reap. Our thunder shakes the ground.  Our lightning scorches the earth. Our rain churns the ashes into fertile soil. We eclipse the sun. We wrap our arms around each… Continue Reading

  • Liberation sounds a lot like libation to me.

    I read a blog post recently focused on the liberating nature of middle age for women.  More specifically, how middle age allows women to “let go of beauty as power” and focus on “inner strength.”  Actually, I’ve read several articles of late that expound on this particular theme. Ostensibly, if I read the authors’ intentions… Continue Reading