I scrubbed the summer off our house. Sandy towels washed and stored away next to swimsuits that probably won't fit next year, but I'll keep anyway. Baseball uniforms taking too much space in drawers finally evacuated to higher ground. Grime off the bathrooms neglected, victims of too many ineffective, five-minute cleanings. The lingering stacks of papers from the last school year finally sorted and stored away. All to the tune of a much neglected trombone. I shed my summer … [Read more...] about Hold on Summer!
authenticity
Flying Solo: Discovering Who You Are When You’re on Your Own
Recently, I spent a week alone. My husband and two sons went away for the week, and I stayed behind. Alone. For six nights and seven days, I was responsible only for myself. In fact, it might be the longest time I've spent alone in my adult life. In college I lived in a dorm. Afterwards, I always had roommates. Next, I moved in with my then fiancé and within a few years we were married. We quickly added two sons, and it's been the four of us for almost 10 years. I might snag a day … [Read more...] about Flying Solo: Discovering Who You Are When You’re on Your Own
Summer Vacation
Blogs motivated by guilt don't make very good blogs. But here I am, trying to write something, anything, because I refuse to abandon my blog. Since I started working in December, my relationship to writing has changed. It's scary to admit, but it's true. Between the writing and social media I maintain for my job and the time that I want to spend with my family, and the front porch of summer that's beckoning me to "come sit down, read for awhile, be still," I am writing the barest … [Read more...] about Summer Vacation
Why The First One Was Hard
I called a dear friend this week to congratulate her on her first pregnancy. We laughed about normal pregnancy things, and she joked, "How did you do this TWO times?" It's funny how your body forgets the physical sensations of pregnancy as time goes on. It's what I like to refer to as pregnancy amnesia - you conveniently forget the crappy parts, otherwise you would never voluntarily do it again. I was a pretty calm pregnant person with straightforward pregnancies. I learned to trust … [Read more...] about Why The First One Was Hard
Word Games: Finding Time to Play
By the end of the week, my brain has been feeling short circuited. The overload of how jam packed my days are starts to catch up with me. I spend the first half of the week being incredibly efficient and productive but by the time Thrusday afternoon rolls around, all I want to do is turn off the part of my brain that is prioritizing, managing, and assessing. No matter how much I plan to cram into the last days of the week, I find that the motivation just isn't there. Until recently, I would … [Read more...] about Word Games: Finding Time to Play
Tuesday Morning Pep Talk
Have you ever just had one of those days? When no matter how hard you work or how much energy you put into something, it just doesn't go your way? I had of those days. So I wrote myself this note to shake me out of the overwhelmed, I suck, I'll-never ever-ever-make-any-progress-on-this-mountain, place. Maybe if you've had one of those days, you need a little shaking too. My Tuesday morning pep talk: you're going to be okay you are okay they don't hate you even if it feels like it, … [Read more...] about Tuesday Morning Pep Talk
The Ferris Wheel Theory
Every now and then modern life and all the things I want to do and need to do, start to feel like more of a burden than a privilege. As soon as I get one thing figured out, under control, giving it the attention it needs, something else pops to the surface that I've been neglecting. It's a never-ending game of whack-a-mole and my arms get so so tired from carrying that hammer around. But over the last year or so I've started to employ what I call the Ferris Wheel Theory. The idea is that … [Read more...] about The Ferris Wheel Theory
How to Be the Administrator of Your Own Rescue: What I Learned Reading Eat Pray Love
The first time I read Eat Pray Love, I didn't get it. It was after the birth of my first son and the book was peaking in popularity. My newly formed book club, consisting of sleep-deprived mothers who needed to get out of the house, picked it for our inaugural read. We all loved Eat. How could you not with its overflowing plates of pasta and the pure pleasure that is Italy? I had studied in Rome myself and felt transported to a less tethered time and place away from the monotony of new … [Read more...] about How to Be the Administrator of Your Own Rescue: What I Learned Reading Eat Pray Love