From the time I was 17 on, I only saw my parents 3-4 times a year. They worked and lived overseas while I was in boarding school and then college in Arizona. Our time together was precious and never long enough. I believe they made up for the distance, the absence and maybe a sense…
Update: The winner of the $300 Amazon gift card is Amy Pike. Second and third place go to Renee and Julie. Here’s my then and now. To see the answers for everyone else, look below. I remember 5 things about kindergarten: 1. Riding the bus and one terrifying time I didn’t get off at my…
Earlier this week I wrote about Lucas’ obsession with cars and it got me thinking about my obsessions as a child. When I was a little girl I used to love playing with Barbies. My first Barbie was Malibu Skipper (Barbie’s kid sister) and I probably got her for my seventh birthday. It was all…
The year: 1986 The location: Banjul, The Gambia, West Africa The cast: A family of four: mother (37), father (39), eldest daughter (15), youngest daughter (2). The scene: Christmas morning, parents wake their daughters and the family is soon gathered around a sparsely decorated tree in the corner of their living room. Holiday music plays…
My father was born and raised in Shamrock, a small town 89 miles east of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle. In its heyday there were 3,778 people living in the once popular stopover on historical Route 66. With the construction of Interstate-40, the town was bypassed and all but forgotten (think of the movie Cars…
My awesome husband and my oldest and dearest friend, Sophie have been conspiring for months to plan her visit to Southern California for my big 4-0! While she can’t be here in June for my actual birthday, she will be here later this month. And when I say later this month, I mean in like…
I grew up with teachers. My parents were educators, who worked in American international schools for 28 years and prior to that on an American Indian reservation in Arizona. Their careers spanned 35 years and if I learned anything from them, it was how much they enjoyed their jobs, how hard they worked and how…
Last week Alison of Mama Wants This wrote a piece called Quirks, where she shared 10 strange and wonderful things she does and not only did I nod along (2. Toilet paper in my house is OVER the spool. Never under. Under bothers me. Tremendously.) but I laughed out loud (8. I don’t like uneven…
I am the mother to a young son, but I am a woman and I was a daughter. I think about having a daughter a lot and quite frankly it scares the hell out of me. I wonder, how I will I raise a confident, well-rounded, strong, independent (but not too much so) woman? While…
Like the rest of the world, I was completely shocked hearing the news of Whitney Houston’s death on Saturday. What a tragic loss. As a teenager, I spent countless hours singing into my hairbrush in front of the mirror and coming up with dance moves to all kinds of popular music, but I distinctly remember…
