Author Mom with Dogs

This one’s for my dad, who died twelve years ago. There’s an expression: “You can’t paint the air.” It means nobody can do the impossible. I think my grandfather might have made it up. I’ve never come across it anywhere else, so I’ll give him credit for it. He was a painter by trade, and [...]

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Dashing through the snow, in a one dog open run, over the fields he goes, laughing all the way.

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Cait, knowing we had a long drive ahead, led with her standard question as soon as we pulled out of the driveway, “So, Mom, what should we talk about?” Feeling more than a little frazzled and grumpy from a ridiculously hectic morning, I said, “Give me a minute.” I  concentrated on unfurrowing my brow, loosening [...]

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I’m beginning to get whiplash as I watch my daughter speed past on her way into teenage-dom. Before too long, she’ll be thirteen. And she can’t get there fast enough. I am almost daily reminded of this in one way or another now. And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that this realization often [...]

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Of Brick Walls and Petty Tyrants Cait came home complaining yet again about one of her teachers. Being familiar with this teacher, I knew that her complaint was more than legitimate. The rant started as soon as she walked in the door from the school bus. She launched in, “Mom, she’s incoherent when she’s giving [...]

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“Mom I can’t get to sleep,” Cait yells from her bedroom. She’s been in bed for almost an hour. “What’s the problem?” I yell back from my study. “I’m having bad thoughts… I’m worried I’m going to have a nightmare.” Since birth, my daughter has been inordinately sensitive to her environment. She takes things in [...]

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At dinner, Kiera lies by my chair while we eat. She likes to monitor my eating, as she knows she gets my leftovers when I’m done. If I take too long, she starts “talking” to tell me to hurry up. Andrew finally gets annoyed and wants me to discipline her to get her to stop [...]

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Do you see that? I see that. Do you see that? I see that! Hey Finn, ya wanna look? Nah, I’m busy. You guys take care of it.

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“Mom,” Cait came running down stairs, “that robin is at it again! Even with the puppets in the window.” We have a male robin who’s spending a great deal of his energy dive-bombing our glass door upstairs. Why? Because he sees his reflection in it, and perceives the image he sees to be that of [...]

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Several people have asked what it takes to be a successful writer. In order to address this question, it requires that I ask a question in return: What is your definition of success? Because there are many kinds of successes–and failures–one can experience in writing. The writing experience can run the full gamut from simply [...]

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Cait has a fear of fire. She seems to have been born with it. It’s been a frequent topic of conversation since the time she was first able to express herself. To help her with this concern, we’ve practiced fire drills at home, we have an action plan for what we’d do and where we’d [...]

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I’m typically not a very sentimental person. I can do without all the Hallmark Holidays. The only feelings I care about are the ones that are unsolicited and genuinely offered, the ones that don’t have to be coaxed or coached, or require an appointed day. I’m also not a saver of any kind of stuff, [...]

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I was in the middle of a really frustrating dream in which I had an important meeting to get to and this well-meaning but bothersome person was causing me more and more problems. Just as I was about to lose it, a big, wet, dog tongue came into the dream and slurped my face. Then [...]

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Twice a day, for the past few weeks, the Canadian Geese have been flying overhead from the fields to the lake and back again, as they work to store up food. Morning and evening, hundreds of them decorate the sky like fluid strands of necklaces. There are so many of them that I can hear [...]

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As I open the back door to let Graidy (my Border Collie mix) in out of the rain, I fail to notice that Finnegan (our Maine Coon cat) has snuck up behind me. As Graidy comes scooting in, Finnegan goes shooting out. After a few choice words (why does this only happen when the weather [...]

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