Tips from my fifty-year long love affair with nature
I was born in a city, to parents who had lived their whole lives in cities. As a young child, I lived in Queens, New York. The closest I got to nature back then typically consisted of going to the beach and swimming in the ocean.
One of my earliest…
Finding space to be our best selves
One of my exes called me today and asked me to help him figure out how to handle a problem with one of the women working as a caretaker for his mother.
She's a thief!
“She’s a thief!” he said when he got me on the phone. Then he went on to explain…
Reentry is impossible — a poem and essay
I don’t want to go back
to a world where there
is no time for play;
no way to work from home,
no place,
no space,
for a life of our own.
I don’t want to re-enter
at the same exit door,
to the same daily stresses,
the same grinding chores…
A story I shared with my grandson about when I had the measles
My grandson was scheduled to get some childhood vaccinations today. Not a COVID one; he’s not old enough for that yet. He needed some of the childhood disease ones.
This little boy is special to me. He and I share superpowers around how we interact with the world through our…
Reflections from the past into the present
Camp is almost over. We are in the last week of our seven weeks at Nana’s house. These words began a journal entry from five years ago.
The journal continued
Today went really well. Both granddaughter (7) and grandson (5) slept well (GS actually stayed all night in his bed!), ate well, had…
That doesn’t mean your parents were monsters
I’ve often had conversations about people’s childhoods where they describe being hit or shamed or otherwise mistreated. They often want to reassure the listeners. …
Organic gardening basics
Children can help with gardening beginning at a very young age, starting a lifelong love of the outdoors. …
Organic gardening basics
One of the first things to do when you decide to have a garden is to create a plan. To make that plan, you will need to determine where your garden will be located and how you want to use your garden. …
Or don’t, if it adds to your pain
TW: rape, suicide.
Imagine being outside,
on a beautiful day,
and having a group of boys
rape you.
Imagine you’re only 15
or maybe 14.
Imagine thinking about suicide
for the next 50 years
because you thought
it was your fault.
Imagine being a child
and wondering if the world
would…
I’m not sorry for writing this
People make mistakes. Relationships are messy. Sometimes we all do something that hurts someone we care about, or we do something just plain wrong. When that happens, a heartfelt apology can go a long way to soothe the troubled waters.
Yet, somehow, saying “I’m sorry” doesn’t always work. There can…
