Their eyes wide with wonder, the children watched as I made them hot cocoa. Then, they sat and savored their warm beverages, each choosing precisely when to eat their marshmallows. Some saved them until the end and others couldn't wait that long and picked them...
I sat on the beach and watched the waves form, crest and then roll steadily towards the shore, leaving their mark on the sandcastles before retreating back into the ocean. The kids played alongside the water while doing their own repetitive work of building, tearing...
It was a lazy Saturday and we were about to leave the house to join some neighbors on an apple picking trip. I asked my daughter Abigail to bring her bunny Fuzzy inside so that we could head out. A few moments later, I heard...
His crime was a common one among young siblings. He had called his sister a name. His consequence was writing sentences. For my newly-minted six year old, writing "I will not call my sister __________" ten times seemed as insurmountable as climbing Mount Everest. A predictable...
I padded across the bright green carpet of my backyard, my eyes set on the tree house my husband and father built with the help of several strong and willing neighbors a handful of years ago, when my youngest was still in diapers and my...
Coffee in hand, I walked into our sun porch which is also my younger kids play room which is also where I like to have time alone in the mornings before the kids wake up. Each morning when I enter the room, I notice creations...
The moon cast a soft glow off my son's small face, which wore a concerned look as I tucked him into bed. "Mom, if we take Fuzzy to Chicago with us, what will happen if he doesn't know where he is and tries to go...
Tomorrow we will turn the page on a calendar into a new year. Perhaps this year more than any in our lifetime, we sense the need for a clean page and a new start. And yet the turn of the page on a calendar does not...
I walked quietly around the lake, leaves crunching under my feet as little animals skittered about, gathering up any remaining acorns or food they could before the freezing weather began. I squinted at the winter sun, which seemed aching to set just below the horizon....
A few weeks ago, I experienced a time of shaking when, on a short trip to our family cabin in North Carolina (my favorite get away location!) we found out that my mother had tested positive for COVID-19. We happened to be out at a local...