Birthday Aftermath and Mama Drama
I just hurt my neighbor’s feelings. I didn’t mean to, but I got caught off guard. I’m at the recycling center, dumping crushed Lego boxes and the rest of the flotsam and wreckage from my son’s birthday celebration. I have to dump this stuff right away, while he’s at school, or he’ll decide he wants to make a cardboard drum set or bunk beds for his Webkinz – and I’ll never get it out of his room. My neighbor comes up behind me, and as I turn and spot her, I greet her with an exuberance I don’t feel. I’m exhausted. I’ve been up working since 3 am. I have somehow just spent an hour and a half in Wal-Mart just to buy dog food, air freshener, and tube socks. I’ve got three more errands to run before I...
Read More“Remember when I was little?”
Photo courtesy of James Brandon, on Flickr “Remember when I was little?” My nine-year-old daughter asked me that today and then proceeded to describe something that happened last week. “Remember when I was little and Lucy was little, too, and she would crawl on my lap no matter where I was and sleep on me? Even if I sat down to put on my boots, she would nestle on my lap and I couldn’t move? Remember that…when I was little?” Lucy is our 10-month old puppy, and this all happened last Thursday. It will probably happen again this Thursday. “That was when you were little?” I asked. “Yes. I’m growing every day, mom. And so is Lucy.” It’s true. Hearing her say that brings me back to the day, nearly 12 years ago, when my husband was marveling at...
Read MoreThe Twisty Bits of a Good Party
Photo courtesy of Foxtongue on Flickr Here’s a true confession of motherhood: Birthday parties freak me out. Not the kind with just my kid and some of his friends, but the ones where I have to host a whole bunch of my relatives and mommy friends, many of whom don’t get along for some reason. I try to avoid throwing these big birthday parties at all costs because, in addition to costing a fortune, they inevitably take my attention away from the birthday boy or girl. I’m so busy filling odd, arbitrary social obligations that I miss my own kid blowing out the birthday candles. Still, every now and then, the planets are aligned just so and my husband gets a wild hair and invites everyone under the sun. Saturday was one of those days. Aunts, uncles, cousins,...
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