Tag: Parenting
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Be Encouraged, Your Sacrifice Matters
“I’m not really this person, letting my wife make the real money while I sit here 15 hours a day, seven days a week.” A once-vibrant professional and just-turned 40 entrepreneur/Dad says this to me fifteen years ago. “In my head, I’m back in a suit, important at work and…
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And So She Flew…Again
I laid in bed, silently grumbling that I was awake at 5:30am and didn’t need to be on that particular Friday morning. My eldest daughter was getting ready for work upstairs and I wondered if her Shark hair styler woke me. I pulled the blanket up to my chin, hoping…
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Find the Humor?
“Look for the humor in the teen years.” The 75-year old former pastor said this as we walked toward the sanctuary for Sunday service. Find the humor? Does this man still not know me even a little? What could possibly be funny about what I was sharing with him? “It’s…
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The First Mission Field Is the Nest
Whenever I visit a first-time Mom, my personal tradition is to bring a gift for her, not the infant. There are already piles of onesie’s, outfits through 4T, and impressive stacks of diapers strewn about the house. New Mama lights up holding the little something just for her. I keep…
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When the Adult Kids Move Back Home, Must Mom and Dad Step it Back Up?
My husband and I were slow to adjust to the empty nest. When our third child moved out a year ago, we shuffled through the house aimlessly for a couple of months. Cooking dinner according to the kids’ various work and gym schedules was no longer necessary. Going out to…
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Mid-Life Snoring?!
While raising my three children, the mere whisper of “Mama” at 2am bolted me straight up and out of REM sleep. If one of them rumbled a quiet cough, I was awake. My eyes shot open at the sound of someone streaming water from the fridge at 4am. Like most…
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Lunching with my Grown Up Baby
While pushing a triplet stroller (twins and my third 22 months younger), random strangers regularly offered advice…at the park, at the mall… (when strolling at the mall was still a thing)… wherever I might be causing a scene with a three-seater. Of all the suggestions I politely listened to as…
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Technology Ruined a Classic April Fool’s Prank!
In honor of April Fool’s Day, this post was taken from the 2019 archives. Still a fun memory of how I pranked my husband… Right up until the kids moved to college, I always pulled some shenanigans on April Fool’s Day – every single year. It was especially fun during…
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An “Old Soul”
My daughter was in the 8th grade when someone had first referred to her as an “old soul”. It was her social studies teacher who was also an assistant coach of her field hockey team. I stood in the parent-teacher conference slightly annoyed at his remark. About a month later,…
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Life Shifts Continue…🎃
I vividly remember driving to work a year and a half ago, starting my first day back into what I term the “business-work-force”. After 20 years as an adjunct professor, raising three children and getting them into college, I was looking forward to taking a much-needed long, deep breath, expecting…
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Empty and Barren. Full and Bountiful.
During a recent walk at the park, I stopped to stare at these trees, contemplating how the two different trees reflect people’s lives. Or, at least resemble differing seasons in their lives. One person can be the empty, impoverished, stark tree – yet, they work, travel, parent and operate in…
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My Love/Hate Relationship with Remote Work
Unless there is another extension here in New York, we’re expected to return to the physical premises of work on May 18th. While I have enjoyed many blessings during this time working from home, it will be good to return to the office. This is quite a statement because 1)…
Tales from a Mid-Lifer 