• Family - Justice - Uncategorized

    Pop Quiz, or, Report to my employer on the last three years after a “Sabbatical.”

    (Dear reader, I know there is irony in speaking of truth and then redacting parts of this post. However, my commitment to living in the truth does not extend to telling other people’s truths on the internet, and so I have hidden details pertaining to other people where I felt the need to give them the gift of privacy.) Now,…

  • Faith - Family

    Talk about “just-in-time” delivery!

    “This is an example of what we call ‘just-in-time’ inventory.” Maybe these are not the words you think of a new grandmother saying to her first newborn granddaughter, but if you know that both of my parents are CPAs and that there’s only so much a new mom can chit-chat, it makes more sense. I’d had my newborn home for…

  • Teaching - Uncategorized - Writing

    Doing Hard Things

    In conversation today, I heard myself use a line I’ve used about myself many times, a line that feels truer every time I say it: I am great at big things; I’m terrible at little things. I make no claims about the originality of this line, but I have been saying it since my twenties and it’s truer than ever…

  • Family - Teaching - Uncategorized

    Picture him rollin (William update)

    William rolled into the school year at Delta Middle on wheels! While he’s getting around great on crutches, they’re exhausting, and while he also drives a mean walker, it’s frustratingly slow. So, thanks to friends who shared a youth wheelchair, a school nurse who’s not only highly qualified but also had some relevant mom experience, and a school community that…

  • Family

    Things some kids have said to Alexa today

    Alexa, tell us a joke Alexa, do you hate us? Alexa, announce “Alexa, announce” Alexa, you’re not my bestie Alexa, does the government listen in to our conversations? Alexa, tell Jeff Bezos he sucks Alexa, what’s Jeff Bezos’s favorite song? (the answer was Don’t Stop Believing) Alexa, how do you hide a body? Alexa, are you evil? Alexa, tell us…

  • Family - Uncategorized

    Homeplace

    Things my house and I have in common: mismatched colorful cozy welcoming needs some work some projects are perpetually unfinished leaks here and there filled with memories shared with my best people blends old and new lots of blue full of found items: ground scores, curb scores, thrifts, and gifts outer doors don’t always close or open right difficult to…

  • Uncategorized

    Mornings working from home

    Some mornings I need a little more quiet time than most mornings have. Time for coffee, for sitting in my bathrobe looking at nothing, just sitting. Time for the dreams to fade and the body to loosen. Time for prayer or notebook writing or a shower or to just take a minute, or to dress or take pills or make…

  • Family - Uncategorized

    Walking home from school

    This one last year, I get to walk up the hill at three o’clock to wait at the school doors for dismissal. Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong! “Allllllll right students, please listen carefully! At this time all kindergarten is dismissed!” Then “all busers! Busers please!” “Curbside pickup!” “Vans!” And the kids stream out, almost all of them so much…