In a LiveJournal entry dated August 21, 2001, I made a list titled “What I Want.” (LiveJournal was the premier blogging website, back before blogging had a name.) I was living in Rutland, Vermont, at the time. Among bullet points like “Making art,” “A cell phone...
This was our bedtime story tonight. -- Once upon a time there was a little boy named Henry and his little brother's name was Danny and his little sister's name was Ellie and they liked to play up and down Morgan Avenue. One late summer day, they...
It is the most palpable letting-go since birth, my firstborn off on the two wheels of a bike for the first time. This baby bird, nurtured and grown, released from my hands into the wide open air of independence — leaving me behind, still running, even though...
This was the story I made up for the kids tonight. It starts the same as they always do. I cried a lot during this one. -- Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Henry and his little brother's name was Danny and his...
To helicopter or not to helicopter? That is the question. Broken arms, concussions, drownings, car crashes. You name it; I’ve imagined it and possibly prevented it from happening to my three kids. I wave my arms around, spotting them as they climb the ladder up to the...
There are times in your life where everything just changes all at once. Leveling-up. My last major one was in 2008 — I got a new job at the Chronicle, a new apartment with my boyfriend Cory, and graduated from college all in the span of...
Like holding a bite of chocolate in your mouth and letting it melt and savoring it, but what if you could never have chocolate again, what if it was the last bite, how long would you hold that bit? That's how I felt holding Ellie just...