Dear Friends
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Ice Buckets For Josie, Colette, Quinn, Lachlan, Calhoun, and Michael Brown
The Professor and I enjoyed a bottle of really good Malbec last night. This morning I enjoyed the presence of my children by my bedside at 5:45. One of those terms “enjoyed” is being used sarcastically, by the way. I was challenged yesterday in the ice bucket challenge, and I’m like . . . . mehhhhh. OK. I’ll do it but I’m not going to nominate anybody because while I am totally down with this social media movement and its awesome effect on awareness and dollars for the terrible disease ALS, I’m also aware that it’s kind of had its day. But I’m going to be a good sport and…
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Thirty Five
I turned thirty five over Labor Day weekend. We traveled up north to watch the home team play the first college football game of the season, and it was epic in both good ways and bad: BAD: The husband was out of town, so getting out was an Endeavor. After staying up late finishing up some work assignments, and then getting up at 2:30 to deal with a certain little boy who had peed the bed, I had a lot to do to get us out the door. Had to do the pee laundry, plus Jack’s uniforms for the following week, and fold it so as to avoid ironing…
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Call for Submissions
In a week, some friends of ours are taking their 6 month old in for major surgery on his wee little skull. I’m putting together a care package for their 7 day hospital stay – I want it to be pretty small, but comprehensive. Here is what I thought I’d throw in there: Comb Ponytail holders Chapstick Travel Kleenex Baby wipes or some kind of disposable way for mom and dad to wash their faces A list of nearby restaurants with phone #s & walking directions Ten dollar bills and some loose change – for vending machines A folder for sticking the zillions of paperwork crap they’ll probably get A…
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sweet * bitter
This morning we took a hike at a nearby state park. It was a perfect day for it – the light was autumnal, but there was only the barest chill in the air. The dog strained on the end of a leash, Jack and Liam ran ahead of us, fleece sweaters unzipped, racing each other. Along the boggy riverside we walked on boardwalks, old ones, wonky, not entirely stable. Through the cracks in the boards below our feet we viewed saw palmetto and marsh, and no alligators, though we searched for them. Later, on a leaf-strewn path, we saw a snake, a hefty, sinuous brown, a sleepy serpent with…
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Birthday Parties – 1 of 2
When Liam turned one, he had pretty much no party. I was living and working apart from my family, staying in a hotel and seeing them only on weekends (or every other weekend). The Professor brought the boys to me during the week of Liam’s birthday so I could see him, and on that Wednesday summer eve after a long day of work, I joined the boys for a dinner at a restaurant, and then we blew out candles on store-bought cupcakes at twilight in a mosquito-ridden park near my hotel. This year we made a little better of an effort – in fact, Master Liam enjoyed not one but…