Early on, motherhood is very crowded, very little room or time or space just for her. There is always someone right there; possibly, multiple someones.
Archive for the ‘Growing up’ Category
When motherhood empties out
Posted in Growing up, Isolation/Belonging, Motherhood on December 30, 2015 | 1 Comment »
The Marvelous Boy
Posted in Adolescents/Teenagers, Books, Boys, Daughters, Feminism, Girls, Growing up, Masculinity, Men, The Genders on October 12, 2014 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s what driving carpool really means: the floors of your car fill up with food remains, the seams of your seats darken with embedded crumbs, the windows smudge over with the residue of sticky/sweaty foreheads, noses, lips and fingers, the air sours with the lingering odor of left-behind articles of clothing peeled off while wet, half-sucked […]
Childhood Story #8
Posted in Children, Emotions/Inner World, Fathers, Growing up, Masculinity, Writing, Young Love on February 17, 2014 | Leave a Comment »
In a well-worn story of my youth, the main character is, of course, me. But as I retold the story, it could be my Dad. Or my Mom. Or my stuffed tiger, who, at the age I was at the time this story was not yet a story, but a series of events that hadn’t […]
From Generation to Generation
Posted in Adolescents/Teenagers, Anger, Growing up, Parenting on January 19, 2014 | Leave a Comment »
We hand things down, we humans. Genes, mannerisms, susceptibility to illness and disease, perhaps a family heirloom, perhaps a bit of an estate, perhaps the clutter of accumulated objects. Lessons. Heritage can be visible or hidden; gifts intentional or not; narratives oft-told or silent. It doesn’t matter what we believe we do; we hand just […]
“I don’t mean to offend, but I’ve read that people your age are really stressed.”
Posted in College, Emotions/Inner World, Growing up, Parenting, Stress on December 3, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
The trio at the table next to me at the pub were of indeterminate but comparable youth. At least they seemed so to me. Until one woman recounted a litany of physical complaints and ailments that the doctor kept telling her were stress-related. She just needed to relax. Go home for Thanksgiving, she was told. […]