I am a liar and I have been one for many, many years. Even worse, I have no shame and no regrets about how much of a liar I am. On April 1, 1980, my father died. He had been sick for a very long time and died from leukemia. I was four years and… Continue reading Liar Liar
I have been trying for almost two months to find the words to express how I have been feeling about moving my mother into an assisted living facility. I’ve been failing. I have not had to make any of the hard decisions in this process. I have not been responsible for anything, really. There are… Continue reading Can’t find the words
I grew up in a house in which the TV was almost always on, at least in my memory. There was always some sort of noise in the background, and it has made me a sort of silence-phobic person as an adult. It has manifested itself in a sort of weird way lately, in which… Continue reading Golden wisdom
I just visited my mom again and my perspective has really changed. I’m not going to be upset about things anymore- or at least I’m going to try. I only have so much control. But this time I was able to stick to that idea, even though there were things that happened that could have… Continue reading A new normal
I’ve talked before about how I am a fan of the Love and Logic parenting and teaching model. This has given me a lot of tools and phrases to use in difficult situations with kids. The most powerful two are pretty simple, and they are “Bummer!” and “Would you like to hear what some other… Continue reading What would you like to do?
I spent the past few days with my mother on a visit to the shore to celebrate Daughter’s birthday. I was struck by so many instances of frustration and sadness in this trip. I could go on and on about how confused my mother was, how she didn’t know who people were every now and… Continue reading Why I wish I could draw
When I got my first teaching job, I became friends with my teammate. She’s a wonderful woman, retired now, who never ceased to make me laugh. She has an interesting perspective on life which is very different from mine. Being ex-military her outlook is quite unique to me and I enjoy her immensely. I… Continue reading Getting in trouble
Why are families so hard? I know it must be if not universally true then at least universally acknowledged that families can be difficult to deal with. I watch tv and I see it as a recurring theme. For some shows it is the entire premise. So why is it that the people who should… Continue reading The unbearable hardness of families
The other morning I made the usual drive to drop Daughter off at school. We made our way through the line of cars to the drop off area, and I said my usual morning words. I told her she’s awesome and intelligent. I told her she’s strong and funny. I told her to go… Continue reading Go be amazing
When I was a student teacher, I was fortunate enough to work with some pretty amazing masters in their classrooms. One of them, a wise and hilariously sardonic intermediate teacher who was nearing the end of her career, noticed my leanings towards anxiety long before I had any clinical diagnosis, and pulled me aside for… Continue reading It’s all in the cards
Elephants in the Room 