Mom, What Did I Like to Wear When I Was Little?
You liked to wear hats.
As opposed to now, when I can barely get you to wear a coat, nevermind a hat!… Read More
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Cait and Me
We Give Our Dogs This Respect. Why Not Our Kids?
It’s a good thing I get up early, because one of the walkers (with dogs) on our road passes by around 6:30 am. I make sure my dogs are inside and the dog door is closed, so that this woman can walk by in relative peace. Relative peace, I say, because Kiera and Graidy both seem to find it constitutionally necessary to get off at least a few barks each from inside the house.
As the day unfolds, a parade … Read More
Best Friends
Cait and I are making a batch of lentil soup together. She asks her signature question, “Mom, what should we talk about?”
Concentrating on chopping veggies, I answer, “I don’t know, Sweetie. What do you want to talk about?”
Cait loves hearing about my past, so I’m not surprised by her request.
“How about if you tell me again how you met Ceres?”
Ceres is my best friend.
“Okay,” I say, handing her the lentils to pick through and wash. … Read More
Argue for Your Limitations and They’re Yours
As I was listening to a visiting friend talk about her life over lunch, I was reminded yet again of how she’s painted herself into a comfy corner of “I can’t.”
I’ve known this friend for 25 years. What attracted me to her originally was her adventurous spirit. When she wasn’t home hobnobbing with famous authors, international journalists, and heads of state, she was traveling the world. She was politically active and spiritually seeking. In other words, she was full … Read More
Growing Older Together
Cait’s sitting on her favorite seat in the house — me. As she’s done since she was a baby, she brushes the hair back from my face with both her hands so she can see my whole face.
“Mom!”
“What?”
“You’re getting white hairs!”
Cait has announced this with some alarm. As though, for the first time, she’s realizing the clock’s not standing still.
“You can’t get old,” she adds with a hint of worry in her voice.
I joke, … Read More
The Morning Routine
Cait’s and my morning routine goes something like this:
I get up around 4:30 a.m., go downstairs, get the coffee going, let the dogs out, go back upstairs with coffee and dogs, and write for a few hours. Then I wake up Cait, get her breakfast, sit and chat with her while she eats, wait for the first bus to go by (which means there’s exactly five minutes until her bus will arrive), double-check that she has everything she needs … Read More
A Bit Drab Today
As I stand by the door, waiting for the dogs to do their business, I look up at the heavy gray sky; there’s a winter storm brewing. It reminds me of a conversation that took place on our way to Lake Placid a while back.
Andrew and I were in the front seat, and McLean and Caitlin were in the back. We were happy to have Mac with us, as he was home on break for a short while and … Read More
Does Job and is Quiet
“Dad, Finn really likes you,” Cait says.
“I like Finn,” Andrew says.
“Finally, an animal you have no complaints about,” I say.
“That’s because there’s nothing to complain about. He does his job (Finnegan-now 9, Mice-0) and he’s quiet.”
“Sounds like a dating ad: Does job and is quiet,” I say. “Kiera and Graidy do their jobs too, you know.”
“Yep. We’ve got one dog who herds anything moving on the ground, one dog who herds anything moving up in … Read More