On Choices, Priorities, and Consequences
As my children were growing up, I told them frequently, “You have to make choices in life.” When my daughter wanted to play two sports, I told her she had to choose one sport per season, because I didn’t have time to cart her to more than one set of practices. She still blames me […]
Decorating for Christmas in Our New Home
I’ve started decorating for Christmas, which is the only season for which I do much decorating. By some people’s standards, I do next to no decorating, even for Christmas. This year, for the first time in my life, I have the advantage of having all my Christmas decorations in the same closet. In the past, […]
On Angst and Sit-Coms
My youngest brother is eleven and one-half years younger than I am. Given where our birthdays fell, he started kindergarten the same month I started college. I’ve written before how he took me for show and tell over my Christmas break when he was in kindergarten, and I got upstaged by his classmate’s golden retriever. […]
Locked Out
As part of my due diligence in preparing to sell our current house, I have been collecting all the keys we’ve given to various people over the years. We have specialized Medeco deadbolt locks on the house which use keys that can’t be duplicated easily, so I’ve kept fairly tight control on who gets keys. […]
Oversharing on Social Media: Where Do You Land?
I have family and friends who span the spectrum in their usage of social media. Some people post several times a day, while others refuse even to have a Facebook or Instagram or Twitter account. They might deign to have a LinkedIn account, but only because their professional contacts demand it. As for me, I’m […]
Treasures That Might Have Been, and Those That Survive
As I’ve delved deeper into closets and drawers and boxes, I’ve found all sorts of things. And on a recent visit, I had my daughter go through her belongings to decide what we should save. She is far less sentimental about “things” than I am, and she kept very little. “There’s a bunch of jewelry […]
You Know Your Children Are Grown When . . . [Part VI]
Once again, during the holidays I noticed that my children are now adults, no longer requiring much (though still some) parenting. This year, I realized my children are grown when 1. I sent one of them on a midnight run to pick up the other one at the airport because I didn’t want to stay […]
Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in October away from home visiting relatives. The trips weren’t hard, but at the end of my travels, I was glad to be home. The first morning I returned, I started my journal entry “Home again . . . .” And a phrase popped into my mind, “Home […]
Easter Eggs: Hunting and Dyeing
I don’t remember ever going on an Easter egg hunt as a child. The Easter Bunny might have hidden some candy around our living room, but I’m not even certain of that. We had pets, plus my mother would have feared an egg getting lost behind the couch. The Easter Bunny would probably have been […]
The Oldest Formula 409 Bottle in America
I’m not sure this is something to be proud of, but I believe our family owns the oldest bottle of Formula 409 cleaner in America. (If anyone can prove me wrong, please feel free to do so.) The Internet tells me 409 has been around since 1957, which means it is certainly possible that someone […]