Writer. Kamikaze Mom. Participation Trophywife. Trying to achieve a balance of principal and practice without shouting obscenities at too many people.
“Here should be a picture of my favorite apple.
It is also a nude & bottle.
It is also a landscape.
There are no such things as still lifes.” ~ Erica Jong
Dear Mr. Whitten,
You probably had no idea.
Spring is here, and with it the almost audible hum of energy that comes from children who have been cooped up inside too long. We all know the importance of limiting screen time, but did you know that letting a child experience nature can help alleviate anxiety, depression and attention disorders? The lure of laptops and tablets can make it hard to sell today’s children on the great outdoors. Sometimes they need a little help stimulating their imaginations. Here are seven books to do just that.
I remember that I was carrying my infant daughter, wrapped tightly to me as I wandered through a church bazaar when a voice said, “What a beautiful baby!”
I thought so, of course, but it was nice to hear it from a stranger, so I turned and thanked the person behind the voice. I don’t remember what she looked like, but I want to judge her, in retrospect – in my mind, her perfectly coiffed, single-hue dye job was oversprayed, her skin showed the damage from too many tanning booths and she wore too much expensive, cloying cologne – but I really don’t know. She looked into my baby’s beautiful eyes and returned her bright, cheerful smile – and then looked at me and said “You’re going to keep her thin and pretty, right?”
Do you want to go to frontier camp this year? I texted my son. My son, who has a cell phone and rides the bus and comes home to an empty house. Who towers over his twelve-year old buddies and can look me straight in the eye.
No! Frontier camp is for little kids and it’s stupid. I want to go to engineering camp, he texts back and I have to sit down for a minute. Engineering Camp? Who wants to go Engineering Camp?
You may read this in Liam Neeson’s voice, if it suits you. Jamie Dornan, maybe, or Pierce Brosnan. Aiden Quinn or Colin Farrell. All of them are Irish. Even the Lucky Charms Leprechaun, if that’s more your speed. You know who wasn’t Irish? St. Patrick. He was from Wales. But that doesn’t mean we can’t don our green gear and down a few in St. Paddy’s honor, does it? Erin Go Bragh!