On Sunday, my husband, teenage daughter and I took the El downtown to the ballet. When we got on a friend I don't see often was unexpectedly on board and I was excited to chat with her. A few stops later a family came on. Three gorgeous kids, between the ages of 2-5...
There's a house I've walked by for years. It's a comfortable house, a little ramshackle, it could use a fresh coat of paint. I've been inside and the same is true there, too. Years ago when I pushed a double-wide stroller for hours on end, I would get annoyed at the...
In our house March 2019 was a month of endings. I quit my job. My son quit hockey, deciding not to move up to the next level, and after nine years, my daughter quit Irish dancing. None of these things were my dream. Not the job, not spending hours driving to sit in...
My husband's family has a cabin deep in the woods of Northern Michigan. So deep in the woods that the first time he took me and turned from a dirt road into a random, unmarked clump of trees and up a hill I thought, "Well, here it is. Here's how my life becomes a...
I am on the el in the middle of the afternoon. At the end of the almost empty car, in the part that's slightly separated, and so perfect for sleeping, is an older African-American man. He is standing up and yelling about something. He is not loud, but he is yelling in...
A few years ago a young man from South Africa stayed with us for a week. During the week he told me the story of how he came to be adopted by his mother and given his name. He was the product of an extra-marital affair and for the first few years he lived with his...