Category: Girl

  • Going the Distance

    Going the Distance

    It’s almost 11 p.m. We’re waiting for her call. Byron would like to go to sleep. Yet I would like him to be the one who responds to her. My legs are tired. I’m in my pajamas, a glass of wine on the side table. When she calls or texts, she will tell us she’s…

  • The Kids Are on Spring Break This Week, Which Means I’ve Been Playing with Clay and Moon Sand and Building Towers out of Blocks and All Sorts of Other Things That Aren’t Blogging–Which Pretty Much Explains Why This Post Is Heavy on Pictures

      This punkin’ right here had a sleepover birthday party last Friday night. As of this writing (the Thursday following the party), I’ve almost recovered.  I’ll also attribute my slow recovery to the fact that Groom was out of town for a couple of days after the party, and during his absence I took the kids to…

  • She Ought to Be in Pictures

    Nine years ago, a piece of my heart started to live outside of my body. Or, as my pal Pammy puts it, “Having children is like being held hostage by the world; you’ll do anything the universe demands to assure their safe passage.” Girl slides safely out of my passage. In her first year of…

  • Game Over

    Girl stands next to the kitchen table, her Tales of Famous Americans book open next to her, and grins widely as she reads aloud, “Martin Luther King loved learning new words. M.L. exclaimed, ‘When I grow up, I’m going to get me some big words.’” While Girl gets a kick out of this statement, Niblet…

  • Benchmarks

    School pictures came home last week, toted in backpacks jumbled with Boxcar Children books, broken pencils, water bottles, and gym shoes. The kids are proud and excited about the photos; usually, I fake an interest on their behalf. However, I find I’m turning a corner, when it comes to my attitude about these highly-contrived photos…

  • Mockingbirds and Tortoises

    Damn Darwin. Were it not for his meddling ways, I’d still be catching a daily nap just before–okay, more honestly, during–“Oprah.” But he just had to go to the Galapagos and stare at all sorts of birds and turtles. Then he wrote that thing. And suddenly, everyone was in a tizzy, wanting to roar at…

  • Seven Years Since the Blue Moon

    I got engaged and pregnant on the same day. Even better, it was “Buck Night” at the local ball park, so I also got to drink a whole lot of cheap beer on a really humid July night while feigning interest in an All-American sport. You might be trying to forge a connection between all…