In the midst of long and sometimes challenging days, I find small moments of bliss. Yesterday morning, for instance, I looked around my car following a school and daycare drop off and found myself alone. All alone. Not a single passenger for the whole 15-minute drive to work. I mean, that is bliss. On another [...]
My family knows the way to my heart. Probably because they ARE my heart. So, in a year in which I told them emphatically and sincerely not to get me any birthday presents, they brought me a homemade loaf of a beloved bread, baked in a tiny apartment kitchen and carried 1,182 miles; a fresh [...]
Back in the earlier innings of my parenting game, we used to call out “family hug” from any room in the house and everyone would come running for a squeeze. Any member could call it, and every member responded (some of those middle schoolers came with their eyes rolling hard. But they came!) That’s what [...]
I got first dibs on my granddaughter to kick off a weekend I have been counting down the days to since Christmas. All four of my adult kids will be together with me this weekend and we’re going to whoop it up. The star of the festivities is their new little niece, Margo Lake. Later [...]
“I have a silly idea,” Molly said as we lounged in our toasty cabin. “Let’s take a quick dip in the river.” Normally, this would be a no-brainer. Floating down the Oconto River remains one of our family’s favorite past times…in the summer. But an impressive spring snow and some daunting ice on the river [...]