My Daughter - My Teacher
I call over the stairs for the third time this morning, "Wake up! Get up! Let's Move!" Even with ten hours of sleep my third grade girl is sluggish and weary. I climb the stairs and pull myself up over her top bunk. I bring myself close to her warm body, rub her back, whisper. She lifts her head slightly, peeks at the clock, and gives me a gentle nod. She gets it. She understands the drill. We do this dance every morning. And even though she knows that the warm breakfast, the school ...
Archive
12/25/2012
Dear Gregory
Merry Christmas! You are now the proud owner of an iPhone. Hot Damn! You are a good & responsible 13 year old boy and you deserve this gift. But with the acceptance of this present comes rules and regulations. Please read through the following contract. I hope that you understand it is my job to raise you into a well rounded, healthy young man that can function in the world and coexist with technology, not be ruled by it. Failure to comply with the following list will result ...
originally published in The Huffington Post 10/4/2012
At Home
For more than a decade, I have given my whole self to my babies. My body gave birth to five of them in eight years. My spirit rallied in the depths of darkness and the break of dawn to care for them. My heart cracked open to love them like I had never loved before. I finished my education and made the conscious and proud decision to make a life from the vortex that is home. I am busy by nature, a doer. My energy comes in wild and intense spurts. I ...
originally published in The Huffington Post 8/13/2012
To My Little Girl
It is almost here. Soon I will put you on the bus and ship you off to school. You have waited for this day like no other. Just over five years ago, on a freezing March night, you raced (sans doctor) into the world. You were tinier than the others with blazing black hair and fierce green eyes. I brought you home from the hospital to a house full of siblings. The dogs barked frantically to sniff you. The kids pulled and tugged and begged to ...
originally published in The Huffington Post 05/22/2012
My Son Takes a Punch, My Heart Takes a Beating and Everything I Learned in Between
It is a warm spring Saturday night. My oldest son wants to hang out at the Little League fields for the late game after his own. This is something he does often and just loves. My husband and I both have fond memories of time spent at the baseball park growing up -- glorious snack bar gorging, swearing and sweating with friends as the field flood lights burned brightly on ...
How I Found Joy in the Pain and Agony of Youth Sports
originally published in The Huffington Post 4/19/2012Since the last time I coached my son's youth sports team, I have given birth to three daughters, his foot has grown larger than mine and now, not everybody wins. It has been six years, but it could have been yesterday, it could have been a lifetime ago. The days move slowly, the years have flown by. I have watched him from the sidelines as I nursed babies, chased toddlers, kept track of them on ...
originally published in The Huffington Post 3/15/2012
Ode to Adolescence
I have a dream that I am looking at a baby. He is mine, all wrapped up in a blanket on a hospital bed. He is hooked up to machines and I am worried. Every time I pick him up, his heartbeat gets weaker. When I put him down, it gets strong again. The doctors and nurses assure me that this is normal. I have done nothing wrong. It will be our life from now on. I can hold him sometimes, but not for too long. More often than not, I will need to ...
originally published in The Huffington Post 2/15/2012
The Gifts of Motherhood and the Ordinary Places I Found Them
It is late fall. The sun is delicious and warm. I give my girls an early lunch and bring them out back. We are way ahead of schedule for the afternoon kindergarten bus and I want them to soak in this radiant day. I rake some giant piles of leaves and let them jump in. I tell them to start on one side of the lawn and run all the way across. They do cannonballs and belly flops, cartwheels and twirls ...
originally published in The Huffington Post 01/29/2012
Backyard Boys
To The Boys In Our Backyard, I know someday I will glance out the window to check on you, my sweet sons, and I won't see a crowded patch of grass filled with neighborhood children. I won't see the determined, innocent bravado of confident prepubescent boys. In a flash, in a blink, unbelievably, I will see young men with beards and overhear stories of locker room antics, weekend parties, or casual relations told by unrecognizable deep ...
originally published on Rachel Simmons Website and the Huffington Post 1/13/2012
"Mom, I'm Fat"
I am sitting, cross legged, on the bathroom floor trimming my 5-year-old daughters' toenails. My 9-year-old son showers his muddy body as I lean against the tub. My 3-year-old daughter wrestles herself into pajamas in her bedroom. My 11-year-old son bursts in from football practice and hollers upstairs about reheating leftovers and having a sore throat. My husband is out dropping our minivan off for a tune up. The ...
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