I was solo-parenting on Thursday night while Dan was away on a work retreat. I was absolutely dreading bedtime, knowing how my kids choose their bedtime behaviour based on which parent is dealing with them at the time. If I’m out and Dan’s parenting alone, they’re angels at bedtime. If I’m around though – well,…
Family Life
Back to Everything
Here we are again. Back To School. Except, to be fair, just like last year there is no Back To School for my family this year. We’ve got two parents who work full time and two pre-school kids in daycare. Even in the summer. We did have a brief Back to Daycare experience at the beginning…
Stronger, Together
My husband, Todd and I have been together 11 years. We just celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary. Seven years. That’s a long time nowadays and I’m a piece of work, so much of the credit goes to him. I’m moody, would rather avoid confrontation than sit down and discuss things like a rational adult; I…
My Rock
When you are the kind of person who says things like, “I’d rather have an engagement car than an engagement ring.” (Practical to a fault? Maybe.) you really hope those words are taken to heart. You don’t say these things lightly and you don’t say them to be dramatic or facetious. You say them because…
An Open Letter to our Children About Marriage
Boys, We’ve been married almost 15 years, and you are all growing fast. We’d like to give you some unsolicited (is there any other kind from parents?) advice. Here’s the thing. Who you choose to spend your life with is probably the single most important decision you will make. And though you are only 12,…
Music Magic Murder
I wish someone had told me before marriage what marriage was “really” like. The best way I can describe it for those wishing to enter into matrimony is it is the greatest example of devotion melded with unrelenting, imagined schizophrenia. One minute you love and adore your spouse. And then mere hours later you can…
Marriage Material
Let me start at the very beginning. I’ve always really liked boys. I’ve had a lot of boyfriends. I’ve also had a handful of one night stands. Or let’s put another way, if the legend is true and you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince, I am the proud…
It’s Complicated
Being a young, remarried widow complicates things. I’m almost 34 now. I’ve been married to my second husband for nearly six years, and was married to my first for only about three. Each marriage produced two children, and all four are two years or less apart in age. I never in a million years expected…
On Getting Married
My husband and I celebrated three years of marriage and more than eight years together last week. Much like our anniversary (Adam forgot and planned a rehearsal with his band, I stayed home with the intention of exercising and ate leftover ice cream cake instead), our engagement story is about as unromantic as you can…
“Keep talking, whoa, keep talking”
Dusk tapered into darkness, trees dappling the horizon behind the storied stage of The Muny in St. Louis. I sat with a girlfriend, letting the magic of live theater add to the beauty of the night, our kids tucked snuggly into bed by our husbands in my friend’s new home. We seat danced, just a…
Here’s To Marriage
“We are celebrating 50 years of marriage, can you believe it,” Jan said to me in the church kitchen as we counted Nilla Wafers for 250 children attending vacation bible school. “Fifty years, she’s put up with me or I’ve put up with her,” Tom winked at us and laughed as he filled the water…
