I’d like to write a book called What to Expect When You’re Least Expecting It. Or… What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Crazy. Or… When Life Gives You Lemons… Make Lemon Bars. Are You Kidding With the Lemonade? Okay, that’s kind of a long title. How about The Tailspin of Perfectionism? Or maybe: Disappointment…the Disillusionment of Believing…
I hear the rustle of plastic and look up to see both kids speed around the corner from the kitchen with a piece of bread smushed in each hand. I didn’t even know we had any bread left, but they must have foraged the last remaining rejected end-pieces from the depths of the countertop. I…
A few years back, I go to a nature writing retreat in the North Cascades. I think it’s a writing retreat set in nature, but it’s actually a writing retreat about nature. I grew up going camping with my family, and my hardcore backpacker dad was known to shake us out of our road trip…
I didn’t expect to rewrite this article a few hours before posting it. I had already spent a good chunk of the weekend writing and rewriting my piece, but then Monday happened, and, all of a sudden what I had written was not the thing that mattered anymore. Monday mornings are hard, they just are.…
I’m standing in the grocery store and I’m about to lose it. I’m with my five- and three-year-old and no one’s screaming, no one’s crying. By all appearances everything’s normal. I should be normal. But I’m not. It’s been an hour of frustrations, divided attention, not being listened to, not finding what I’m looking for,…
As I went about my usual bustle out the door, I looked at Roman and told him, “Hurry up, or we’ll be late.” These words come out of my mouth as if they have been programmed into my brain by autopilot robots, and I wondered how many times I have said that sentence, in the…
I found a necklace in the dirt under our lilac tree earlier this week. For a moment, I thought it was living, its round wood beads strung tightly together like the belly of an earthworm popping up through the ground. But as I bent down to free it from the dead leaves, I saw it…
Home is a season A doing A done A longing A haven A song to be sung A knowing A settled A heart hanging hat A washing A wearing A knick and a knack A picnic A berry pie Lazy noon nap Adventures By lakeside A fireside camp A circle A diamond A threshold A…
“Every man has a map in his heart of his own country, and the heart will never allow you to forget this map.” –Alexander McCalll Smith A couple of months ago, my husband, Matt, and I took a trip to Washington wine country. We left Seattle in the morning commute, crossed over Snoqualmie Pass into…
The padding did nothing to keep my shoulders from aching under the weight of everything I had crammed inside. I was late. If I didn’t hustle, I would miss the bus, which meant I would need to haul these textbooks and notebooks and leftover sand all the way to downtown Honolulu on foot. I picked…
Navigating through the open desert in a packed van en route to our snow leopard research station in Mongolia’s South Gobi, I looked at some homemade sausages we were transporting to the base camp. They were tied to the grips above the windows, and every time we went over a bump, they would swing back…
Not all who wander are lost. The first place I drove when I got my license was the grocery store. I don’t know why, but all of those lined shelves in sections, labels out, helps remove stress. All’s well with the world there. I don’t even have to buy anything. Just wander and feel better.…
I read a lot so I thought I was adventurous, but I’m realizing that living vicariously through the experiences of characters stumbling out the backs of wardrobes into a wintery wood, being kidnapped aboard a spaceship to Malacandra, or tesseracting through the universe isn’t quite the same as riding a camel in Egypt, climbing to Machu Picchu, or eating my way through Italy.
My family loves travel. If we’ve saved up a chunk of money the first thought is, “Where to next?” My sister Lucy spent a couple years on a tiny Honduran island teaching children. My mom spent teenage summers motorcycling and giving medieval castle tours in Europe, was a missionary in Laos, and was a bridesmaid…
About this time last year, I discovered I was terrible at Candy Crush. For months I had plugged away, crushing neon sweets after 2 a.m. feedings blissfully unaware that level 30-something was not actually an accomplishment. I stumbled on this eye-opener when our friend said in passing what level he had just finished. I wasn’t…
Kindred 