November 2021 Less than two months ago, my daughter Lauren and her husband Patrick welcomed Etta into the world. Of course I think she is the most perfect baby ever, and she had me wrapped around her finger from the first breath. But rather than “Grandma,” I chose to have her call me Lovey. To […]
October 2021 I’ve been making crazy art projects lately, collecting found objects from the seashore and winding, gluing, hammering them together to create forms and creatures. Most of the found objects are from nature – fragments of shell, softly shaped driftwood orbs or coins of seaglass that started out as man-made but turned into sea-smooth […]
September 2021 Over the past 18 months, a number of my friends have come to realize that jobs, social circles, activities, residences and other life-defining variables hold far more wiggle room than they had once thought. They’re now shuffling their cards to get more of what they’ve been missing and to get rid of some […]
August 2021 How many times did someone ask you how you are today? You probably responded with something like, “Fine, thanks,” “I’m good,” or “OK, and you?” But were you really fine? I’ve gotta tell you that I’m not always fine these days. In fact, I feel like I’m on an emotional rollercoaster. One […]
July 2021 Saying these words often feels big and scary – uttering them implies so much. Affection. Commitment. Acceptance. Vulnerability. Occasionally, an “I love you” comes pouring out without thought — sometimes even during a business setting, when one might think it inappropriate. Oops. I, personally, try to tell the people I’m close to […]
June 2021 In January, I wrote about the aspiration of a cyst on my spine which relieved my back pain and lifted a huge weight off of me. I described the results as a Benjamin Button moment where I became instantly younger, livelier, and freer than I could have imagined. I felt both literal […]
April 2021 A bit over a month ago, my husband David had surgery to remove a cataract from his right eye. After the procedure, he came home and said he was seeing things in technicolor. He wasn’t high from pain meds (my brave guy was wide awake for the procedure). What he was seeing […]
March 2021 I’ve had many “mom talks” over the years, exchanging ideas with friends and family and trying to figure out how to do it well. Recently, in preparation for an upcoming Bring a Friend podcast, Tina Knowles Lawson and I had a chat about raising strong daughters. It was phenomenal to share experiences […]
February 2021 The other day, I took a bite of a homemade chocolate cookie with powdered sugar sprinkled on top. It was no ordinary cookie. In one bite I tasted not only the cookie but my childhood. I could see myself with my mother and my grandmother, rolling chilled chocolate balls in our sticky palms, […]
February 2021 Have you heard about throwing a frog into boiling water? The story goes that the frog will immediately jump out of a boiling pot, but if you put it into cool water and slowly turn up the heat, it won’t notice and will boil to death. That was me and my aching back. […]