Author Archives:
Neverending Story
I’m sitting with my son in the back of the emergency room. We’ve been waiting 2 hours for the attending social work or psychiatrist or whomever to decide whether I can take him home, or whether he’ll be packed into an ambulance and driven to the pediatric hospital an hour away. We’re here because my (…) MORE »
Laughed So Hard, Thought I’d Cry
You know what a mother needs sometimes? Well, yes, okay, vodka, but that isn’t what I’m going for here. Laughter. A sense of humor, people! There is so much stress in this job—seriously, deep-sea oil-rig workers got nothing on us—that it’s important to grab onto the hilarity whenever you can. In that spirit, I offer (…) MORE »
The Hardest Thing
While I was working on this month’s post, a friend sent me a message about a film that a colleague of hers had done. He’d put it on Kickstarter.com—a web site that helps people raise money for projects—and was looking for backers. She thought I might be interested in it. I was. This is the (…) MORE »
Happy
I’ve been planning, all month, to write some moving piece about the winter holy days. About how Yule, Christmas, and Chanukah all celebrate a very specific faith: the belief, despite all appearances to the contrary, that we won’t lose the light. And how parenting is often quite a lot like one long winter, and all (…) MORE »
Saints and Poets
“Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you!” —Thornton Wilder, “Our Town” I wish I was more graceful in my gratefulness. I wish I was the type of woman who manages to rise early, so that she has time to meditate on being thankful, to hone her gratitude, make it the bright point (…) MORE »
Turning
Sometime after I had my first child, something happened. My son was in hysterics—one of those crying fits that little kids get. He was practically turning purple. Without even thinking, I blurted it out: “Stop crying so hard. I mean it, honey. You’re going to make yourself sick.” Wait. What? My mother’s voice—coming out of (…) MORE »
