Tag: Parenting
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Joining the Rat-Race Mid-Life
Over 20 years ago, I sat on the tarmac in Iowa waiting to take off and return home from a business trip. I was in my first big-girl job post-college, and after receiving a promotion, was promptly sent to various cities to work with administrators in the Midwest and Northeast.…
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D-Day Celebrations Have Me Thinking About Patriotism
I don’t come from a military family, nor was I raised with any real political discussion or thoughts about country. Yet, in my twenties I started paying attention to history and even more so in the last decade, I’ve grown to be highly patriotic. There was no significant reason why…
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Why Isn’t Parenting Considered a Profession and Why Are We So Embarrassed by It?
If you’ve read this blog lately, you know I’ve been traveling a bit. Conversations among a wide array of human beings, each simultaneously living strikingly similar yet vastly dissimilar family lives fascinated me. A perpetual student at heart, I enjoyed every small talk chat and lengthier conversation surrounding the literal…
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2 Ducks. 2 Universities. 2 Weeks.
My daughter graduated from college on Saturday and my son will graduate in two weeks. If you read this blog regularly, you know they are twins and we were jumping with joy a year ago when my daughter’s university finally listed the graduation date and it was different from her…
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An April Fool’s Joke You Can’t Get Away With in 2019
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 the high school years when teenagers pulled open the fridge door, only to have a bowl of dry cereal dumped on their head. Mornings…
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The Coming and Going During the College Years
Nearly three months ago, I walked through the brisk November air into the sliding glass doors of the airport, traveled up the escalator and stood outside security, waiting for my youngest to get off the plane. It was two days before Thanksgiving and my hands had not been on my…
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When Your Kids Near Marrying Age
I don’t recall where I picked up the idea, but for several years I’ve been drying the petals of flowers my girls (or myself) have received so they can be used on their wedding day. It was a fun activity with a “someday” thought attached to it. Now, it’s a…
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Like Moses, My Arms Got Tired
Exodus 17 11-13 As long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he lowered them, Amalek prevailed. When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on each…
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Save the Journals or Burn Them…?
Although New Year’s Day is often a day to toss out the “old”, the January 1st purging of my home office was not planned. I just happened to smell a fire brewing outside and discovered my husband burning some Christmas wrap and nonsense snail mail. I was sitting in…
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Our Many Characteristics
My youngest called from college, distressed about boy #1 talking to boy #2 on her behalf. She did not approve. She believes that any young man worth dating in the future would need to personally get to know her – through her. The conversation progressed into fully analyzing the words…
Tales from a Mid-Lifer 