“And if we ever leave a legacy It’s that we loved each other well.” – Indigo Girls, Power of Two It was the picture I was dreading to see. At first, I forgot it was even there. Tucked in with the images of my handsome husband and the smiling faces of our two beautiful children, and…
In the late 80s, we had Book It!, a reward system designed to get kids to read with the promise of free pizza. It’s no surprise that a program that motivated kids to read by rewarding them with Pizza Hut fell somewhat out of vogue–the fear of gluten and childhood obesity making it less enticing.…
As we walked through the Locks looking at the boats and soaking in the bits of sunshine that broke through the quintessential Seattle overcast, I heard a distressed and repetitive quacking that triggered my mamma bear radar, and I knew instantly something was off. As we approached a gathering crowd, a saw a duck pacing…
Go to the nearest body of water. Stand on the furthest point of land–the end of the dock, the bow of the boat, the lip of the shore. Take your shoes and socks off. Squelch mud or sift sand between your toes. Feel the earth beneath the hills and valleys of your feet. Feel how…
Harry lingered over the single serving TV dinners and pondered the colloquial reference to TV dinners and how they must have come up with that in the 50’s when families first got tvs and would sit in front of the only shows that aired. The Ed Sullivan Show. Maybe I Love Lucy. Harry knew he…
I dreamed about Ella last night. I knew I hadn’t seen her lately, and I felt vaguely guilty, wondering if I had been neglecting her. She hopped onto my lap and I ran my fingers over her white, satiny fur. She lifted her face, nose and ears the color of pink ballet slippers, and wild…
This weekend we went to a wedding, and I’ll be honest, I felt like a middle-aged mom in a mall-bought dress. For good reason it turns out, as I am in fact a 36-year-old mom, and I was, in fact, wearing a dress purchased from the mall. The whole way there I was fidgety and…
Some friends and I went camping last weekend, and as we were setting up the canopy my friend’s forehead brushed some stinging nettles. She immediately started to feel a prickling sensation on her skin, but before 30 seconds had passed she found a fern and rubbed it on her forehead. The stinging stopped. The sickness…
I would touch my tongue to the metallic spot in my mouth over and over. The hole was like a Sandcastle moat filling up with the tide. For three days straight I think I spent every second in my second grade class steadily wiggling that front lower tooth. While Amy Johnson galloped an endless merry-go-round…
All photographs by Ashley DeLatour The spiders have been inviting me to write all day: one in my hair, one on my coffee cup and one in the sink. Microscopic reminders of the story I’ve been delicately weaving in my mind. I sit for a brief moment, contemplating pen and paper. Puzzle pieces gathered at…
I looked at my sweet boy who seemed to be transforming before my eyes. His bouncing curls had all but disappeared, and his course hair now only yielded a hint of a wave around his cowlick. His ankles peeked through the bottom of his jeans that are now two inches off of the ground, and he…
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” Zora Neale Hurston When I sit down to write, there’s a fly bashing its body against the glass. I stand and walk towards it, moving slowly as to avoid startling him. I push open the window above the sink, and the kitchen door, too, and…
I came across a striking quote recently: “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.” C.S. Lewis wrote those words in The Weight of Glory, and, no matter one’s religious persuasion, it would be difficult to deny that his statement has zing. What would it look like…
A lovely co-worker teacher-friend calls me MP. She says I am like Mary Poppins with a bottomless carpet bag of treasures. I’ll admit I am rather a bag lady, always the turtle shell on my back full of all that I need. An extra change of clothes, make up, granola bars. The weather could change.…
Right now I feel safe. Right now I’m living inside well-defined boundaries with lots of rules and restrictions. I don’t feel trapped here. I’m way more afraid of what’s outside the boundaries, so in here I’m happy as a cow penned up to pasture. But I’m afraid right now too because the boundaries are temporary…
Kindred 