On Resilience

Twenty Ways

The twins and I have been visiting family in California. One day my cousin, Josetta, a FIERCE shopper, took me to The New Mart , a place she and other savvy women and girls flock to the last Friday of each month. My cousin is an art consultant (she owns Fresh Paint in Los Angeles) and brings this creative sensibility to fashion, particularly in how she accessorizes. I marvel at Josetta because I admire and severely lack such skills. But alright…this is why I shop with her.

Who are You Exactly?

This is the question forefront on my mind because overnight my children have crossed the threshold from well, children to full-fledged tweens. I wrote about this in a prior post, “Fragments of A Life.” But here I am writing about the same subject because it’s almost as if last week’s words spawned amorphous little people whose behaviors are strikingly unfamiliar.

Fragments of A Life

The title of this post is drawn from a chapter in my memoir. At the time, the events I described were specific, yet now the idea of fragments seems to fit the whole of my life.

Something Like the Tour de France

What do you make of this scenario? In the midst of theKaren Hornbostel Memorial Time Trial Series at Cherry Creek State Park, my 10 year-old son hopped off his bike to gulp some water.

Sometimes Bit by Bit is Best

I completed my graduate thesis last week – a crowning achievement (and the reason for my online absence). Readers know that I’ll earn my MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College this summer. As it happens, my thesis is the entire draft of Both Sides Now, my memoir. Lucky me. I didn’t have to finish the book, but I needed to. I needed to prove to myself that I could write my story, line by line, page after page, part by part, until I had accomplished the following: getting it all down on paper, selecting the moments and shaping it so that the experience could be shared. In this way the written word allows others to reflect upon their own stories of loss and renewal.

Batman, Kings and Superheroes

Have you heard about how police stopped Batman in Silver Spring, Md. late last month? That’s right. Batman. They pulled him over because his license plate featured only the Batman symbol, no numbers. He was driving a black Lamborghini and dressed in full black and yellow leather Batman attire. “Send me Robin,” the police officer is reported to have said over the radio.

STAY HUMBLE, POSITIVE, AND PROUD: Life Lessons from NBA COACH GEORGE KARL

Many of us are feeling the thaw of winter and the early heat of spring. It’s a glorious time of year, albeit a charged one. Growth spurts, spring cleaning, bikes that need maintenance, gardens that need pruning, multiple school projects, the season of birthdays. And for basketball fans…March Madness, NBA trades and the upcoming playoffs and finals. Can you feel the energy?

Goosey Events and Trees That Smile

What do you make of the following unrelated events?

My 10-year-old daughter wakes up with a fever and hacking cough. Even she knows she’s sick, and yet she demands she go to school. She bawls. She whines. She throws her body on the sofa. “I have to go to school.” Cough. Cough. “You don’t understand, I HAVE to go to school!”