Say what you will about 2016, but one thing’s for sure: it has not been boring. In fact, it’s been a whirlwind of emotions, stress eating, and tears of all kinds. Adding to the excitement of the year is the fact that for the past 11 months, I’ve been working…
The phone rang in our motel room around 9 a.m., startling us all. In 1987, motel room phones only rang if it was a wake-up call or a noise complaint. Unfortunately, it was neither. My mom answered the phone, sitting sideways on the bed next to the nightstand. She talked…
I am not an overly sentimental person. Emotional? Yes. Dramatic. You bet. But sentimental? Not particularly. I didn’t keep a pregnancy journal. I don’t have locks of my kids’ hair tucked away in their baby books. I don’t swoon over my children’s art projects. And the markings on their height…
I have a list of parenting regrets about a mile long. Wasting money on an expensive rocking chair and signing my three-year-old up for soccer, for instance. But one thing I don’t regret, however, is the excessive photo taking—and photo sharing—during my son’s first year. Though I’m no shutterbug by…
Author’s Note: This essay was written more than a year ago, the situation described happened over two years ago, and since then the scars have continued to fade. It is a long process, but I have found the road to healing and is filled with love and light. If you…
My grandparents raised their family in a tiny, brick bungalow on the west side of Milwaukee. The size of the house was inversely proportionate to the size of their family, something that by today’s standards seems to not only defy the laws of comfort, but of logic as well. Yet,…