outsidevoice

Last week my grandmother celebrated her 96th birthday. Yesterday she was moved to Hospice. In the midst of all the turmoil around recent events such as we’re having surgery, we’re not having surgery, we’re fine, we’re not fine, there’s a decision to make, no let’s wait for the doctor… it’s occurred to me that it’s [...]

Let’s just say that waking up at 6:30am was a little harder than she thought it was going to be. But then we rallied and were out the door! She’s like an old pro now. Yeah, yeah, backpack. Yeah, yeah, lunchkit. No you don’t walk me in. Whatev, Mom – I’m a second grader now. [...]

Dear Benjamin, How has (more than) 30 days flown by? Wait, let me retract that statement because now that I think about it, this has been a rich 30 days. This month you went on your first road trip all the way to Austin, TX – where we would hang out for a few days [...]

Last weekend I turned 38. For several months I had been dreading this birthday – and I’m not totally sure why. For awhile it felt like the beginning of a downward slide, which is mostly ridiculous, but I think really it’s because it became a real sign-post for the beginning of the end of my [...]

Several of you guys are paying attention. Yes, indeed, Husband did say her name in that video. I’d like for you to meet Leah. And her freckles. She is The 2nd Grader Formerly Known As The Swimmy. She was named after our paternal grandfathers, Lou and Louis (no I’m not kidding), and while her name [...]

So it doesn’t make a ton of sense to hide Swimmy’s name and use Benjamin’s. I’m going to tell you her name, but thought it might be fun for you to guess first. Maybe there’s a prize. I’ll even give you a few hints: 1. It’s biblically-based. 2. The first letter is for both our [...]

Yes. The Swimmy got home from camp. Yes. She had an amazing time. Yes. I am way late with this story. In the middle of the hoopla of trying to pick her up, “hurricane” Edouard showed up. And, yes, hurricane should be lower case and in quotation marks because that was one weak ass storm [...]