My kids are freaks. They actually like healthy food. It’s embarrassing sometimes. We were at the Denver Zoo last weekend with the cousins, and everyone was hungry, so we quickly loaded up a tray and nabbed a table. I actually felt a little self-conscious as Annabelle munched on plain lettuce and begged me to save [...]
I was doing an interview this morning for a profile I’m working on for my day job — don’t want to spill my own beans now, but I’ll link to it (if I’ve figured out how to do that by then) when I’m done, it’s a story about an artist here in Phoenix whose art [...]
Brian silently motioned me into the den, away from the kids, who had invaded every other corner of the big house. I was visiting my sister’s family in Denver, and we’d all come to Brian and Meredith’s for a Memorial Day BBQ. Brian was done cooking; we’d all eaten (Sophie had actually consumed a buffalo burger, then passed out [...]
When I was in high school in the Eighties, I was all about the Preppy Handbook. Apparently it was written as a joke, but to me it was the Bible — the guide to a world I knew nothing about, an orbit that included The Hamptons, sailing, straight hair and big cities. I memorized the [...]
About halfway to our gate at Denver International Airport, Annabelle stopped in her tracks and her Hello Kitty suitcase (actually, the Hello Kitty suitcase she stole from Sophie, who didn’t care since she was wearing her elephant backpack) dropped to the ground. “Mama, are we still in Colorado?” I understood. We’d been in the airport [...]
Growing up, I can remember my mom singing this really annoying song that started, “Sisters, sisters. Never were there such adoring sisters.” I don’t recall the rest of the words, but I do remember that she’d sing it when my younger sister Jenny and I were fighting — which was often. Actually, it probably would have [...]
My heart is broken — again. I should have learned, by now, that young love never lasts. She always leaves. This time it’s Jeanine. After two years of nannying for Sophie (and sometimes Annabelle) she’s graduated from college, and off to grad school in California. We wished her well with gift cards from IKEA and [...]
This morning, I put Sophie on at the bus for her last ride. She handed thank you gifts to the driver Dorothy and Tina, the aide (two adults to shuttle one little girl on a very long — suprisingly, no, not a short — bus) and I wished Dorothy well. She’s retiring. She looked at [...]
Last night, after Sophie had gone to bed, Annabelle and I settled down on the couch. As the older sister, she gets to stay up a little later. “Sophie’s turning 5 tomorrow,” Annabelle said. “Yes.” “Is she really going to kindergarten? She doesn’t talk very well.” “You know why that is, right?” “No.” (I think [...]
Sophie is 5 today. She knows exactly what she wants for her fifth birthday: chocolate ice cream. Plain chocolate ice cream, not the kind with candy or other stuff in it. Which is why I’m worried, because the only chocolate ice cream I could find in single-serving containers is the Ben & Jerry’s kind with chunks [...]
