I made school lunch for the last time, ever. "This is the last time I'm ever going to make lunch for you to take to school," I said to my daughter, as I folded a chicken and rice burrito and wrapped it up tight. "You're free!" she whooped. "Aren't you glad?" Seven years ago, I … Continue reading Something about that list from the working mother battlefield.
Tag: family
Here’s the deal.
Welcome to segment four, out of eight (nine, if you include the intro), in the short series about the creative brief, a tool that can be used to bridge a perceived gap that gets in the way of cooperative, holistic enterprise, both in business and in life. Bonus for today's post? Recipe links at the … Continue reading Here’s the deal.
How to weather a storm.
I'm writing this post at my writing table, which for most of its life has been a kitchen or dining table and bears all the markings to prove it. I'm writing in one draft, so there are sure to be typos and incomplete thoughts. Under the table, a big baby of a dog, all hundred … Continue reading How to weather a storm.
Thoughts go astray.
"This could be her last Christmas," my daughter said, speaking about the dog -- one of our dogs -- last Christmas, in 2020, the first pandemic Christmas. Another of our dogs had died earlier in the year, in mid-March before everything shut down. He, the one who died, and she, the one who remained behind, … Continue reading Thoughts go astray.
A story about parents.
I have a friend who moved to back to Memphis a decade ago, after many years away. She rented a house instead of buying, unsure of how long she might stay. The neighborhood she choose was a “good” neighborhood by neighborhood standards, meaning it was relatively stable, a combination of starter homes and rentals that … Continue reading A story about parents.
Underpainting.
Think of this, perhaps, as a sketch of something I'm still working out: The door jamb between our kitchen and the laundry room is unpainted on one side, littered with pencil marks -- initials, dates, hash lines that predate our moving in. It was one of the things clear in my imagining of our future, … Continue reading Underpainting.
Something laborious.
The focal point for the day's work was "Wilson," a hospital glove that my husband inflated like a balloon and decorated with a Sharpie marker so it looked like a happy face. The glove's name came from the movie Cast Away, which we'd watched over Labor Day weekend, nestled with the dogs on our green-striped … Continue reading Something laborious.
Something sentimental.
She arrived at the door with a big paper grocery sack, handed off the goods, and left promptly, knowing full well what life was like with a toddler and a new baby at home. In the grocery sack were three Ziploc bags: Wide noodles; sauce; chopped Romaine (freshly chopped from a real head of lettuce, … Continue reading Something sentimental.