Only a few hours after my mother died on October 14, 2009, I got up during the night and began writing this poem. I added to it on October 16, but then didn’t really touch it until last week. Then, I decided to type it up on the computer, maybe do some editing as I
Read on »family
A learning experience: Wrap-up of my first Read-a-Thon
My first 24 Hour Read-a-Thon is done, and I’m sorry to say this top part is gonna be a mess because it’s Sunday night and I need to get ready for bed — back to work tomorrow! I did answer the questions for the “End of Event meme” already (below), so hopefully the bottom part
Read on »Of Paper, and Its Work
For weeks now, Jeff has had piles of paperwork and folders set aside in an area of our bedroom, waiting for me to sort through them and determine what can be recycled. This morning, after sleeping in, I woke to a few inches of snow, which immediately pushed away any ambition I might have had
Read on »In which I make excuses for my silence
I had a feeling I was overdue to write a blog post, and now I see, it’s even been a few days longer than I thought it had. And so, here’s some of what I’ve been doing the past couple weeks (or nearly that) since I last posted (and unfortunately not very much reading). As
Read on »Some thoughts on reading, on my son’s birthday
Today is Valentine’s Day, and also my son Kyle’s 10th birthday. Jeff and I have been parents for a whole decade. This is too frightening to contemplate for too long, so I’ll quickly move on from there… But anyway, Kyle had three friends over last evening, and two of them spent the night, and one
Read on »New video of PaPa and Kyle, set to Eva Cassidy
On the morning of Sept. 19, 2008, in the emergency room, my father-in-law lay gravely ill and unresponsive. With Grandma and Stacy, I listened to the doctor explain PaPa’s status and the tests they were doing, what they’d found up to that point. Just before I stepped out of the room, I said to the
Read on »Post from a Guest Blogger!
One of my favorite things about my husband is that he makes me laugh — sometimes A LOT. He was cracking me up about something a while ago, maybe last weekend, and I got an idea. I told him he should write a guest post for my blog. “I need some new content, and I’ve
Read on »Family game night?
My mother-in-law is here for the night, there’s nothing “must-watch” on TV, no firm plans. After dinner, I asked Jeff, “So did we decide anything about whether to play a game or something?” Jeff says, “No, not yet. Why, Honey, what would you want to play?” “Um…nothing.” “Oh really, nothing?” Jeff asks me, “What’s your
Read on »More social media — but I think I’m wiser now.
At my mom’s funeral service, as I was getting a sympathetic hug from my great-aunt Joyce, I heard her ask close by my ear, “Are you on Facebook?” I avoided joining Facebook for a really long time, for many reasons. One, I have a MySpace account, but I hardly ever go to the site anymore
Read on »It’s been 8 days; do I feel sad enough?
Not long after midnight on October 14, my mother quietly passed away into the next world. I spent hours on the phone with people — family, and the funeral director, and various nursing home and hospice staff — and got the arrangements made, and I flew to Boston early last Friday. I spent some time
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