“Pay me a hundred dollars and you can take my picture.” The man’s unruly gray hair spilled out of a cap knitted in rainbow-colored stripes, just as the words spilled from his lips. Everything else about him was entirely forgettable. I laughed aloud at this notion; my two out-of-town companions stood there speechless, observing the … Continue reading Surviving Insufferable People: Plus One for Resilience
Parenting
Summer Gathering: A Memory
summer in Knoxville Let me tell you a story. It is a summer evening in Knoxville, Tennessee. The day has been hot, but the hottest part is over. It’s still sticky outside, though, and the cicadas are singing in the massive, centuries-old hardwoods all around the big house on the corner in this grand midtown … Continue reading Summer Gathering: A Memory
The Beauty of Magical Transformations, or Sometimes, Just Winging It
I recall an occasion many years ago when my now-ex and I were having dinner with some friends at their house; my twenty-something kiddo was still a peanut, say age four or so, and was included that evening because he and our hosts’ young daughter were attached at the hip, eagerly anticipating the play date. … Continue reading The Beauty of Magical Transformations, or Sometimes, Just Winging It
Coping With COVID: A Lifetime of Stories in Teacups and Coffee Mugs
Mad Hatter: What’s the matter my dear, don’t you care for tea? Alice: Why, yes. I’m very fond of tea. March Hare: If you don’t care for tea, you could at least make polite conversation! —Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland cup and saucer I found a few years ago at the Adelphi Hotel estate sale, … Continue reading Coping With COVID: A Lifetime of Stories in Teacups and Coffee Mugs
The Essence of Us
For days stretching into a couple of weeks now, I’ve been working on deep cleaning and reorganizing the creamy yellow office space at the top of our steps, a small but sunny room I share with The Chef—his desk situated at one end and mine at the other like a pair of bookends, with … Continue reading The Essence of Us
Dog Story: We Try Dock Diving
There’s a little piece of conventional wisdom that goes something like, know your limits. If you’re a parent, then you know this truth applies also to your child’s or children’s limits: Everybody wins when you understand what you can reasonably expect of your kiddo—and what you can’t. Turns out the same thing’s true for doggies. … Continue reading Dog Story: We Try Dock Diving
Vacation Postscript: It’s Still Summer, Dammit
But you’d never know it from the ‘seasonal’ departments in all the big box retailers. I defy you to visit one and find that thing you had your eye on for your backyard deck or patio a couple weeks ago, but decided to think on it: ‘Tis gone, gone, gone now, and in its place—Crayola … Continue reading Vacation Postscript: It’s Still Summer, Dammit
Mother’s Day: A Story of Redemption
Those are some of my favorite earrings. My kid chose them as a gift for me when he was a toddler, can’t recall the occasion. Hanging out on his dad’s hip, he picked them out of a glass case in a favorite store in Knoxville, Tennessee, my erstwhile hometown. I wear them when I’m wistful … Continue reading Mother’s Day: A Story of Redemption
Parenting Story, Part the Second: When A Thousand Miles Separate You From Your Sick Kid
Turns out, the universe was listening last week when I suggested it’s impossible always to protect your child. Especially when he is 26 and presumably the captain of his own ship—and he lives in Tennessee and you live way up in Vermont. Five o’clock a.m. on Wednesday came the messages, one after another, lighting up … Continue reading Parenting Story, Part the Second: When A Thousand Miles Separate You From Your Sick Kid
Parenting Story: Difficult Children, Interesting People
I was chatting with a colleague last week about raising a boy with attention deficit disorder, and all the challenges that come in that package, and how it looks when the boy becomes an adult man and starts making his own decisions about important things in his life. Or at least how it looks in … Continue reading Parenting Story: Difficult Children, Interesting People
Sycamore Stories 