Fostering a new renaissance through creativity, authenticity, spirituality, and art
Well, I’ve been back for a month and the promises I made here have not come to fruition. I thought I’d catch up quickly on my return and that just hasn’t happened. It was taking me so long to edit my pictures from my month away that I then got behind on current content. So … Read more
We are finally off on our westward adventure. As a kid, when we drove out west on similar trips, my dad would vehemently declare “Westward Ho!,” affectionately slapping my mother’s thigh for emphasis. So I duplicated that tradition for my daughter who was delighted to anticipate me, jumping out of the way so that I … Read more
I’ve been moving my oldest back to college into her new off-campus housing. Below you can see her leaving our house in the van, being greeted by her sweet landlord who she knows from church, her finished room along with some of her books, as well as the hall downstairs and some of her friends. … Read more
August 27 is the right day but only 2/5 of us will be around then so we celebrated early. As usual, we made cookies instead of cake, an extra large one frosted by the honoree. My son’s approach to this task is applying as much frosting as he can, as you can see below. We … Read more
Here are two small, current dilemmas here: 1.) My daughter’s worn out shoes. I gave a familiar ultimatum to my teenagers: clean your room or else. The “else” in this case was the worse threat imaginable. I promised that if they didn’t do it, I would enter their room and do it myself. (You’d think … Read more
It seems such a short time ago that I dropped my oldest daughter off at college (click here to read that blog entry). It hardly seems possible that her first year is over already. She has worked hard. She learned Ancient Greek, read lots of Plato and Aristotle (etc!), proved every proposition of Euclid, played … Read more
Motherhood is a Gift An infant’s earnest gaze The giggling feet of a baby in a high chair about to be fed The enthusiasm of little red boots joining me for a hike The sweetness of a toy hammer hanging from a bedpost A stroller bumping over “all the rugged way” Reading every picture book … Read more
A “golden birthday” is the one birthday when you turn the number you were born on. So since my youngest turned 13 today on the thirteenth, it was her “golden birthday.” As of today, all three of my children are teenagers; it hardly seems possible! We had a wonderful day… Last night, our daughter saw … Read more
So today was my birthday. There was no fanfare, no surprise parties on yachts encircling Manhattan, no two-seater, bright orange Porsche convertible sitting in the driveway with a big bow on it, no dazzling diamonds, nor all expense paid tickets to Switzerland or New Zealand. Which of these things would I have preferred?
I had a wonderful day. It helped that we had no big expectations of it. We needed to take my 12 year old to a poetry workshop which was followed directly by an activity another mother was going to drive her to. This meant we needed to drop her off 45 minutes from our home … Read more
Virginia’s 18th Birthday My oldest turned 18 quietly and without fanfare. She danced in her day at an end-of-the-term waltz party and celebrated with college friends by inviting them to a tea party in her dorm room. (She also served Boursin on snowflake Ritz crackers.) She had a Facebook message and text message from me … Read more
My nephew Allen has been dating Heidi for six years. They met at the very beginning of her freshman year when he was an upperclassman; they were both trumpet players in their college’s marching band. Years ago we thought they’d be getting married and today was the day. It was an incredibly joyous but slightly … Read more
We drove the 11 hours down to Chapel Hill to attend my nephew’s wedding. After having lunch with my parents, who I hadn’t seen in a long time, we picked up my college freshman daughter from the airport and checked into our hotel. Then we changed for the wedding rehearsal, which was followed by an … Read more
I resonated with this book for a lot of reasons. Like the author, I’m a mother with teenage kids going through the process of leaving home, who not only wants the best for them, but sees her own role starkly changing as well. Like the author, I’m striving to mindfully embrace that, while loving the … Read more
One of the things that sold us on buying our house here in Connecticut was this local orchard we visited while we were house hunting. I was very pregnant with our daughter who is now off as a freshman in college, and what we saw that we liked so much at this orchard was in … Read more
I met my husband 21 years ago today. Long before that, this date was important in my life because my dad was born 84 years ago today. Today is also my college friend Hallie’s birthday. She was the first Christian Scientist I ever met, and would later become my matron of honor. In an interesting … Read more
