This little girl makes my day
My kids found this little girl on YouTube. She just makes my day. We have watched it so many times this morning that I have her entire affirmation memorized. “I love my pajamas, I love my hair, I love my haircuts, I love my Allisons…”...
Read MoreWhy I Read
Ever since I bought my Kindle, I’ve noticed that I buy and download a lot of books – because I can – and then I don’t finish them completely. So I ask myself why I read, and I think the answer is this: for connection, for transformation, and to be left feeling a little more uplifted than when I began – and a little less alone. For the knowledge of how someone, who might be a little like me at some level or another, finds salvation in this world, which is sometimes a little too scary to face all by myself. And that is why, I think, sometimes I’ll be reading along and decide that what I’m reading is a waste of time. If it just spells out what’s wrong with humanity and not how to go about putting ourselves in a place to help it and one another; if it...
Read MoreAll for Fun
One of the things I love most about puppies is how they think everything in life is put there solely for their personal enjoyment. A leash snaps on, and it doesn’t just signal an adventure in the great beyond — it’s also a rope for a scrappy game of tug of war. I sweep the floor, and the broom is something to chase, bite, and ride atop. And don’t get me started on shoes she finds lying around. Or tennis balls and rawhide. My son walks down the hallway and the swish of his pantlegs sends her into a frenzy. She hauls off down the hall, Her back puppy legs flop forward in a desperate attempt to keep up with her front legs. She’s about to catch him and she can’t keep up with her own momentum, and I worry for a minute that she’s going to...
Read MoreSpooning Puppies
This is my new puppy. Her name is Lucy. “What possessed you?” People want to know. Weren’t three kids and an enormous Labrador enough? I don’t know. Guess not. She’s a Jack Russell Terrier. A wild child. Six pounds of sleepiness or, alternately, such high strung craziness she can’t help but bang and gnash her terrible puppy teeth. (I think she’s my totem.) You know what else? She’s mine. She loves me, and I love her. She smells like sunshine, if sunshine smelled like puppy breath and wet rawhide. Already, we have nicknames for her. BuryIt. CarryIt. Gizmo. Peanut. Cindy Lou Who. We have nicknames for the labrador (Desi) too, mostly Chewbecca and, inexplicably, Partzengruber along with all its many variations: Partzy, Partzengroob, ...
Read MoreMy Brown-Eyed Boy
“Hey mom, where’s the duct tape?” My 7-year old son would really like to know. “I don’t think we have any right now.” I am lying. Really I’m just saying this because I’m in the middle of writing something, and I don’t want to get up and fix whatever toy whichever neighbor kid broke. And then I see the toy my son is holding up. A rocket launcher with a torn nerf missile. It doesn’t hold pressure anymore and won’t fire due to the 3-inch hole in the side. I was supposed to fix it last weekend and I promised him I would and then I forgot and he put it away in his room. I feel bad, so I put down my laptop and push aside the puppy who is sleeping on my legs, stretched out on the couch. He’s already found the tape, and he brings the materials to...
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