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It’s Not About the Food
This is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. In solidarity with the 0.5-10% of the female population who struggle with some form of eating disorder (according to the Academy for Eating...
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Just A Season….
Hang in there, Mr. Snowman; it’s just a season! “It’s just a season.” I heard that phrase tossed around by other mothers all the time after I had children. Its intent was to convey the fleeting nature...
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And Also, We’re Going to Die….
Photo by Fiona Gong My husband and I have an ongoing joke this year; whenever we have one of those conversations that focuses on a problem — something sad, or stressful, or disturbing — Erick will end...
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Meeting Myself in the File Boxes
My parents recently moved 15 minutes away from us (cue angelic chorus). Part of this process involved packing up the house in Virginia where they’d lived for 27 years. In no way are my parents...
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Hang in There, Baby
On the Willows has been on hiatus for a few months, but now it’s back! And I have a new post up over there, about the strategy of “hanging in there” when you find yourself in one of life’s pits. Click...
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Scrubbing the Blender
Later this month, my husband Erick and I will celebrate a dozen years of marriage; we’ve spent almost 15 years of our lives as a couple. Erick and I aren’t a particularly glamorous, romantic, or even...
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Rest: Why You (Yes, You) Need It!
I would love to hear about your process in realizing you need to “step back” and care for yourself. What happened to cause that? What has changed in the way you go about doing things? Those lines are...
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Mom Goes to Doe Camp
It started with fly fishing. My daughters were asking to go fishing. Neither my husband nor I, both suburban kids, have any fishing experience aside from some childhood Girl Scout and Y Camp trips....
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The Lost Girls
Composite of video surveillance images of Hannah Graham on the night she disappeared from http://www.wtvr.com Last Friday I had a dentist appointment, or what I like to think of as: My chance to...
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Regrets (I’ve Had a Few)
October in Vermont is a month that tugs your heart back and forth. It is undeniably beautiful: peak foliage season, bringing busloads of “leaf peepers” and wavering chains of backroad cyclists into...
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Children Get Older
That title seems obvious. But is it, really? Like most obvious life facts — you should floss daily, we’re all going to die, squirrels are evil — the always-advancing age of our children is something...
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A Tale of Two Women
So there was this woman, and she was pretty comfortable. After a decade of moving every few years, she’d been settled in a nice small town for nearly five years. Healthy kids, good marriage. She was...
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Wake Me Up When September Starts
I just feel like nothing’s going right. I said this to my husband, standing in our living room one recent Sunday evening. The night before, I had said: I feel like I have nothing to look forward to...
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The Moms Are All Right
This column will be published immediately following the last day of Addison County’s 2014-15 school year. But I’m not going to write about the complex bundle of emotions that summer vacation...
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Marriage, Thirteen Years Later
July 20, 2002, 8 AM I spent the night with my mother at The Colony Club on Park Avenue in New York City, where the wedding reception will take place. I didn’t sleep much; I was too excited. Instead, I...
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The Second Day
The two oldest Gong Girls started 1st and 2nd grades today. We did it! Or, as Dora would say: Lo hicimos! We survived another summer vacation! Of course, it’s not all that clean and simple. I have...
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Five Misconceptions About Sabbatical
And just like that, Thanksgiving’s over. Before we had a chance to toss out the dried-out autumnal gourd decorations and boil the turkey bones for broth, there were wreaths around town, Christmas...
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An Open Letter to the Citizens of Berkeley
Good People of Berkeley: I’m here from out of town, although I used to live among you. So, I’m prepared to tell you how the rest of the country thinks of you. Mention “Berkeley” to most people, and...
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California Sabbatical: Some Lessons of Sabbatical
I was not exactly looking forward to our family’s sabbatical in Berkeley, California. Our five-month sojourn was a year-and-a-half in the planning, so my mind had plenty of time to run through every...
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Amnesia: Thoughts After the Morning After the Election
After my husband announced the results of the 2016 Presidential election to our daughters when they came barreling downstairs the following morning, they thought he was kidding. Like this was some...
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