Category: Family
-
Moving to Survive: The Morpho Butterflies of Panama
Four hundred feet above the column of ships waiting to enter the canal, we crossed the Bridge of the Americas to begin our winter escape in earnest. As Jeff and I climbed through steep Caribbean pines, rolled past arching ferns, and dropped into the sea of airborne palms in Almirante, I marveled that the rich…
-
My Mom Taught Me How To Spend Time
Featured in Her View From Home
-
I Said ‘Yes’ to Everything & Now I Am Glad I Did
Gathered on any random Saturday night before the pandemic, my friends and I would often recount our day. My tale usually involved our family of four bouncing from activity to activity like human pinballs caroming from one corner of the county to another…
-
What We Really Learned during Distance Learning
By March, the 2019-2020 school year was humming along nicely for my sons, Devin, a kindergartener, and Thomas, a second grader. They were happy in environments that challenged and encouraged them…
-
All I Want Right Now is a Door with a Lock
Distance learning resumed two weeks ago, but I realized on day one what I will need to survive it: a door with a lock. Not an easy-twist knob lock. I want a padlock. A hardened steel padlock.
-
Of Everything The Pandemic Has Taken Away, I Miss Touch The Most
Featured on Scary Mommy, May 30, 2020 by Elizabeth Allison I idled in the driver’s seat when the masked man strode past my door and knocked on the trunk. I pushed the release button and watched him toss the plastic bag in, slam the trunk shut, and run off without a word. It was quick and dreamlike. Driving…
-
I Used To Go Over The Top For Birthdays, And Now We Just Travel Instead
Featured on Scary Mommy, February 14, 2020 Garbage bins sat stuffed with plastic tumblers, paper plates, disposable cutlery and cardboard. So much cardboard. Each birthday gift my son had unwrapped seemed hermetically sealed inside the stuff. As I hosed down the patio, attacking gooey blue frosting and greasy mozzarella with the strongest nozzle attachment I owned,…
-
We Took A Vacation With Our Child-Free Friends And It Was The Best Trip Ever
Featured on Scary Mommy, March 13, 2020 I have shared more adventures, big and small, with Pam than any person outside of my family. We met in middle school, remained close in high school and college, and served in each other’s weddings. We have never lived more than twenty miles apart, text constantly, and know virtually everything about…
-
How A ‘Help Wanted’ Bulletin Board Changed Our Family
Featured on Scary Mommy, February 20, 2020 “If I do it, can I play Xbox after?” “Is everyone doing it?” “Can you just do it since you’re better at it?” So would begin the litany of questions when I assigned my sons even the most basic weekend chores. Whether charged with watering, dusting, or raking,…