Robot Missing Mom

During quarantine and coronavirus, my children fell in love with a robot. LL123 was born thanks to a creative idea my friend Sarah Coomber had to share videos with her preschool class at home. While he was originally designed to educate three-year-olds at Rivermont Collegiate, thanks to YouTube, he’s also teaching my children about weather, …

Looking Back…

  I woke up this morning knowing that nothing drastic had changed with the reality of living in “COVID America,” but I also acknowledge that time has passed; now, it’s May. And as I look back over the month, I’ve made a handful of observations. When it became clear to me that I was going …

A New Office

When I was in the nursing months of motherhood with my second-born, I rekindled a desire to observe “the daily office,” a pattern of praying the hours, around the clock. Newborn behavior can be frustrating. The unpredictable sleep patterns, the frequent feedings, the sacrifices a mother makes to nourish her young and propel them towards …

Pandemic Poem

   I’ve been sending texts in all caps and disinfecting everything with straight bleach I am a restless agent shifting sporadically from phone to fridge to computer to laundry basket – searching for meaning. Today is my friend Joe’s birthday. I try and picture him, coal grey beard and smiling eyes. What wisdom might he …

On Being Thirty-Eight

A few weeks ago I was sitting behind the bar in our basement with an ear to the kids' monitor, a White Claw in hand, watching a live concert on YouTube - and a poor recording at that - of my favorite Fugazi song. I took in my surroundings and thought: this is the life; …

I Gave up Thrift Stores for Lent

I remember when I first embraced the art of "thrifting." I was thirteen and there was this amazing shop right around the corner from where my Mimi and Papa lived in Grandview, Missouri. If memory serves, you could see it from 71 highway; big, illuminated letters spelling the misspelled name: MAJ-R THRIFT. I remember walking …

Fambly*

This morning I texted my dad before 7am his time - he probably wasn’t even awake yet. I feel bad when I do this, I often forget the time difference. But I also feel like I’m getting him back for all those early Sunday mornings when he would wake us up with raucous singing of …

Let’s Talk about Sin, Baby…

I know it’s old news. We’re done with football. We’re done with J-Lo and Shakira. But if any of you, like me, are still sorting through charged comments, skewed articles and basically admonishment of critical thinking, then maybe you want to read what I have to say. I watched the Super Bowl like I usually …

Stand on Grace

I had one of those very full “mom days” yesterday – complete with kids’ check ups and a less-than-compassionate nurse dispensing the vaccines. I made dinner at 3pm (no joke) and that is when we ate. Shortly after our pre-happy hour dinner, John offered to take both kids to the grocery store so I could …

Lost Loves Live On

Earlier in the summer I learned that two of my childhood friends “broke up” with me on social media.  It’s such a counterfeit medium for relationships, anyway, but it still hurt. This realization gave me pause – I had to contemplate my own stupidity and selfishness alongside the disappointment I felt, and that tastes bitter. …