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A Central Organizing Principle…
On the other side of raising them, I feared I would never find another thing that would be as beautifully exasperating or as completely demanding as being Allie, Brian, and Stephanie’s mom. It wasn’t that I didn’t have things to do, but I seemed to have lost some central cord that helped me navigate life.
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The road ahead…
More recently, they’ve been visiting us. A couple years ago, Dad and Jayla flew out for a summer visit. We went camping, toasted marshmallows, and watched them eat an unseemly number of Maine lobsters. He took the kids out for pizza and ate quite a bit of Anne’s ice cream.
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The crying day…
When you have spent your whole life saying goodbye, you eventually have to find ways to minimize the pain. After many years, we learned that getting mad and fighting before the goodbye did not actually offer relief, so we stopped. Now we get slow. Sit close. Catch up.
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Adding to the family…
I think it's good that they both spend their days facing real emergencies. It helps put things in perspective. Neither of them lost their cool. They just tucked and rolled as the day unfolded. And it unfolded beautifully.
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She loves him…
Once, when he and his sister were on a school trip to Boston, he sold Allie’s lunch and juice boxes for spending money. The vice principal at the middle school had us on speed dial. There were days of real worry about this one, but I knew that under that tough kid I struggled with, was a tender boy’s heart.
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Wedding hats…
It was the hat though… at least 18 inches around with a swooping brim and lace stretched over the top, but the feathers were the show stopper. A puff of feathers, lace and fluff topped off the affair and lent it power. She was stunning.
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Summer 2017…
Summer evenings, we watched the fire flies from the deck as darkness descended over the trees. The woods behind the house absorb the light, as last rays of sunlight sunk into the earth. We danced to the sound of the peepers, the owls, one my husband has dubbed the “screech” owl, and the other the “hoot” owl, and the sweet hum of summer evenings.
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Learning to play…
Most of the time, we import our fun. We have a whole collection of fun people who bring light and life into our lives. We are better because of these bursts of energy who push us out into the unknown.
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The after years…
I have often said, this has been the hardest part of raising children. Hands down, the hardest. Sometimes I wonder if it is because this process seems to be left out. No one tells you that the after years will take your breath away.
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Oh baby…
He came into the world in a rush, after months of waiting and preparation. Although I have given birth three times, this was the first time I watched a little one take his first breath. Tears ran down my cheeks as we waited for the first sounds of life. His first cry brought a rush of relief. They were both fine. Beautiful. Radiant. Healthy. Share this...FacebookPinterestTwitterLinkedin