Dear Sophie, I’m sitting at the kitchen table on the day before your 18th birthday. No one else is home. The dogs are asleep, the cat’s outside and I can hear myself think – not necessarily a good thing. In a lot of ways, I’m ready for your birthday. I can smell the chocolate bundt cake […]
Facebook memories, you’re killing me. I brace myself each morning, reminded of how it feels on the rare occasions I leave the house, driving past coffee shops, boutiques and other favorite spots that are currently things of the past. This week it’s all the back to school photos from previous years, my […]
Desperate times mean it’s time to dance — at least, that’s how it’s been in our house this spring. Sophie’s working toward her goal of becoming a dance teacher by offering her first-ever dance class! On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 3:30 pm PST, you can join her virtual class via Zoom. No experience […]
I’m proud of my girls every day — that should go without saying — but Sophie really blew me away this weekend with her performance at Shoo Flies. Shoo Flies is the little sister of Bar Flies, a live reading series I co-produce featuring “true stories — and drinks” held monthly at a bar in […]
Greetings friends and family! I’m getting this one in just under the wire, as 2019 slows to a halt. It’s extra chilly here in the Arizona desert, and we are enjoying rare views of snow on far away mountains and treasured time with cousins. I had every intention this year of sending a real letter, […]
If you ask the thermometer on my car dashboard, summer is in full swing. But Sophie goes back to school next week so we’ve been washing backpacks, shopping for highlighters and generally returning to reality after several weeks of travel. Last week the girls and I dragged ourselves away from the beach, moving slowly […]
Today we have a guest post from one of my favorite writing students, Anita Whitely. For her final project in “Mapping Your Memoir,” a class I teach at Phoenix College, Anita wrote a letter. I won’t say anything more — except thank you, Anita. I have learned so much from you. I am a […]
Dear Annabelle, Today you graduate from high school. You were born such an old soul, so to me, these rituals feel a little funny. And a little sad, because this means you will “leave leave” soon, as one mom (whose kid is staying in town for college) put it to me last night at your […]
Fifty people packed into my kitchen, drinks in hand, ready for cake. I glanced around and realized I hadn’t seen the guest of honor for at least half an hour. The back door opened and someone called, “Hey, Sophie’s ready for her entrance.” I looked outside and there she was, standing in the driveway, waiting to […]
Packing lunches this morning, I dumped the contents of Sophie’s bag onto the kitchen table — the only good and fast way to get rid of the loose goldfish crackers roaming around in there. As usual, her calculator was there, too, as well as her school ID and about a dozen mechanical pencils, […]
