Last Sunday night before bed, as we were trying to “get back into the routine” and I was returning to school, my 8 year old son held my hand with one of his (the other clutched his favorite stuffed puppy), “Mom, how can you make me go to theater camp for an entire week?” Dramatic… Continue reading Why We Make Our Kids Do Hard Things
I have loved both my children and my green Subaru Outback passionately since their arrival in our world in 2011. Greta and the “Subes” were delivered about two weeks apart. Yet, the addition of our sweet, amazing service pup Emerson has thrown off my ability to pack the car for my own road trip survival. … Continue reading “Stop Touching Each Other,” I Scream from the Front Seat Like Many Parents with More Than One Child…
I think it started the day the first two boys from Thailand were rescued from the cave. My kids watched me watch the news that morning and watched me cry big fat tears of relief that those little soccer players would return to their families. It was all too much for me– the poor coach… Continue reading When We Need Mr. Miyagi, Apple Cider Vinegar, and a Good Cry
Leaving from Austin, Texas where I had spent 48 hours with college girlfriends celebrating 25 years of friendship, Captain Eric of our United flight made his way back to row 28 looking for a woman named Ally. When Ally identified herself, actually in row 26, Captain Eric introduced himself and thanked her for her service. … Continue reading Our Beatles and Bon Jovi
One of my favorite authors, Wally Lamb, once wrote a novel called I Know This Much Is True, and I’m considering a rewrite. For the time being though, I’ll instead share a list of what I’ve learned to be true in the last 10 days. We’ve been hanging out at our pond for years now… Continue reading In Retrospect
Children follow our lead in everything we say and do from the earliest of ages. They learn from every good and bad experience, and they learn the most in times of trial, challenge, or just plain crappy situations. Parenting is hard. Parenting from a seated position is even harder. Our son was having a conversation… Continue reading Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Blog, May 15, 2018: “Honoring the Mamas and the Papas”
When I told the almost 10 year old daughter of my best friend since sixth grade that we would not be using electronic devices in the car between her home in NY and Philadelphia, our road trip destination about 2.5 hours south, I felt her eye daggers pierce the back of my head.… Continue reading What We Learn from Road Trips
As a kid, we had a dog named Heidi, but we never walked her. She just walked herself wherever we went, sticking close by always, as we spent most every day outside playing in our yard or the woods behind our house. I do remember picking up a lot of dog poop as a kid,… Continue reading Since Becoming a Dog Walker…
When your otherwise coordinated husband falls out of his wheelchair not once but twice in one week, we know the world is extra topsy turvy. When it’s mid April and snow and freezing rain continue to fall angrily outside, I question Mother Nature’s decision making process. When bad things continue to happen to good people–… Continue reading Are You There God? It’s Me, Heather…
When I set out to write a realistic fiction novel, True North, I knew one of my main characters would be a dad with a spinal cord injury who was a good man, with a dark secret in his past, and a fairly significant character flaw. As a high school English teacher for 20 years,… Continue reading Christopher and Dana Reeve Blog, March 26, 2018: “Tracking Our Character”
