Happy birthday to the queen of the court (and our family)

Happy birthday to the queen of the court (and our family)

On the day before her 87th birthday, my mom took a tennis lesson. She likes to keep her game sharp. It bothers her that she can’t hit the ball as hard as she did back when she used to run my dad around the court with her strategic baseline, baseline, drop shot, lob, drop shot [...]

Aunt-icipation and a wedding shower hosted by the Little Girls

Aunt-icipation and a wedding shower hosted by the Little Girls

We've been calling my sisters the Little Girls for more years than they'd care for me to repeat. Born three years apart, the two youngest girls in our family shared a room (and even, for a few years, one double bed). They wore matching clothes until Kathy, the older of the two, put her foot [...]

Jump around! Jump around!

Jump around! Jump around!

Joy exploded like a fireworks encore when we all finally got together to celebrate the marriage of our son Charlie and daughter in-law Tara. Patience, planning and expert production resulted in this cool juxtaposition of a gorgeous pastoral ceremony and an elegant, hopping dance floor that throbbed with memories and fun. We were all so [...]

A big night for the Little Girls

A big night for the Little Girls

They invited me to come along, but I honestly had more fun watching my two little sisters have a big night at the Phil Collins Genesis concert Tuesday night in Chicago. My sister Jenny (who also goes by Jenna) called it a Jenna-Sis night and they live-texted me throughout. As I've written about before, I [...]