Confession: we have not done much that resembles “school” around here the last few days. This, despite the fact that we have nowhere to go, no place to be except home. This, despite the fact that we are used to this homeschooling gig and have not been thrust into it involuntarily like so many others. … Continue reading "How to Use This Time Well"
Read MoreCategory: This Thing Called Life
How to Live During a Pandemic
Recently, my phone has become a black hole, somehow pulling me toward it with more force than usual. I’ve been sucked into the cycle, checking the constantly-updated pages of the major media outlets for the latest news whenever I have a spare moment. I know this is no way to live a life, even a … Continue reading "How to Live During a Pandemic"
Read MoreSpring is Here
Here in the northern hemisphere, today is the first day of spring. You may have missed this, given all that is happening in the world. I almost did. It’s a small, seemingly inconsequential thing, buried as it is amongst death tolls and job losses and “shelter-in-place” orders. Easy to let it slip by, unnoticed, unmarked. … Continue reading "Spring is Here"
Read MoreI’m Not Enough
You are enough. It’s a popular statement these days, offered to young parents lost in the doldrums of self-doubt, of worry, of guilt. You are enough. Whoever you are, no matter your failings and weaknesses, whatever your personality and strengths, you are enough. Your child needs you, as you are, and no other. You are … Continue reading "I’m Not Enough"
Read MoreJustifying My Existence
On afternoons when she naps, Katie emerges from her room with tousled hair and sleepy eyes. If we have nowhere to be, and if fortune has smiled on me enough that all three kids slept at the same time, and if she is the first to wake, she finds me in a chair in the … Continue reading "Justifying My Existence"
Read MoreWe Have a Good Life
Jonathan and I sat together on the couch a few nights back, paging through the photo book I had compiled for our family for 2019. He paused to smile at a shot of Abby giving a lopsided grin to the camera, and then at Miles sacked out in my arms. When he got to his … Continue reading "We Have a Good Life"
Read MoreWhy Hello, Captain Obvious
There’s a persistent voice, a critical voice, that sometimes takes up residence inside my head. It shows itself most often when I’m trying to write. Count your blessings? You aren’t in control? Parenting reveals your selfishness? Really, Jenn, is that the best you can do? All a bit … obvious … isn’t it? Yep, that’s … Continue reading "Why Hello, Captain Obvious"
Read MoreThis is a Season
I wrote this post last year, in March of 2019. (It was near the top of the “Your Recent Drafts” section of WordPress, which tells you how often I even attempted to blog in the past twelve months.) I’m not sure why I never published it, except that maybe I was lost in the newborn … Continue reading "This is a Season"
Read MoreYou Have Way More than You Know
My recent search for homeowners insurance raised some interesting questions (not least of which: why doesn’t “homeowners insurance” have a possessive apostrophe – which would, of course, go after the “s”? You can find the answer here, if you are so inclined.) Among the mundane details of home size and composition is the question of … Continue reading "You Have Way More than You Know"
Read MoreChoosing These Moments
I’ve had it in my head to “start writing again” for many months now. But it’s always a difficult thing, beginning is, especially after so long an absence. (I don’t regret that long absence; while my writing fell silent, my life certainly did not, and the last year has been full of good and worthwhile … Continue reading "Choosing These Moments"
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