By Michael Bike path, Palatine, Illinois, Tuesday morning. Mom and four little tots on bicycles. I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but I’m gonna assume for the sake of this post that the children are hers. I’ll also assume that she loves them. You can tell, because she’s at the street with all…
Monthly Archives: June 2010
Sunday Night Teaches Me
By Megan We spent a beautiful afternoon in the shady back yard tonight, soft summery music the soundtrack to our kids’ play and their parents’ chatter. Al made a redneck slip-n-slide with the sprinkler and a huge piece of thick black plastic, the very same tarp we taped tightly over Peabody’s windows back when he…
Fairy Houses
By Beck It was Midsummer’s Eve yesterday and so after the thunderstorm and the earthquake – what?! – the kids ran outside and built little hasty fairy houses before they went off to bed. “I hope there isn’t another earthquake,” The Baby said, casually. “I don’t think my fairy house is very sturdy.” We’d thought…
Dinner Time
By Kelly I love summer evenings, when the light lingers like a welcome guest on the porch. The air is on the back side of warm, thick with the smell of lake water and hamburgers and sunscreen. The sounds of children laughing and yelling slowly give way to the buzzing of tree frogs and insects…
Chicken Butts are Forever
By Michael We’re sitting on the tarmac in St Louis. It was supposed to be Chicago, but one of those summer storms that sweeps across the Midwest sent us into a holding pattern and then we ran out of fuel and, well, American doesn’t fly ultralights, so we stopped at the nearest filling station. I…
Letting Go
By Megan Parenting-wise, I tend to do things my own way. Among the mothers on the block, I’m THAT one – the different mother, who nurses her kids for sweet forever, drives the pediatrician crazy with her delayed immunization schedule, (mostly) insists on organic, natural foods and listens to public radio in the car. I…
Bears In The Forest
By Beck The Girl gets to stay up later than her siblings, being 11 and all, and she wanted to watch some tv with me last night, which sounded FINE by me – an evening walk with a friend had left me disturbingly tired. “Let’s watch “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant,” she cajoled. “That…
Quiet
By Kelly The purple clouds with pink highlights are still visible from my perch on the floor. The sun sets late in the north this time of year. I always forget. It doesn’t feel like 9:30. But it is. And the two-year-old who didn’t nap today is finally – FINALLY! – sleeping behind me. She’s…
What We Learned Here…
By Michael I had the opportunity to spend some time on the radio last week, doing an interview about life lessons and taking calls from listeners. We didn’t get a lot of calls in our short time on the air—some loudmouth was monopolizing the conversation to drive book sales—but it was interesting to see what…
Dance of a Mother
By Megan Bean danced all weekend in her very first dance recital, times two — my first-born, tall and proud young bone and muscle beside me but still so fluffy-tiny against the backdrop of the cavernous high school stage. I watched her performances breath-held-chest-puffed, my heart beating out cartoon flowers and stars, my eyes filled…