My 75-year-old dad told me he’ll feel like he’s closer to dying if our annual family vacations stop. He’s not ready for that. Neither am I. It stopped me in my tracks and frankly scared me a little. While I know my parents are aging, I haven’t begun thinking about life without them, and I
New York City was home to my husband and me for six years before we had kids and moved to Asheville, and it will forever be a place that holds so much for us. That’s why when the timing, cost, and opportunity aligned for our family of four to vacation there for a week recently,
It was an hour into our hike through Southern Konnevesi National Park in Finland, and neither of my 7- and 10-year-old daughters was complaining. It was glorious. Normally, within the first hour, I would have already heard the question “How much longer?” One of them would also declare, “It’s boring. We’re just walking.” So what
Whenever I schedule an appointment during the school day, I feel guilty. I ask for their latest available appointment. If that doesn’t work, I pull up the school calendar. Then I start doing the ridiculous parent math: How long is the drive? What class will my child miss? Can I get them back before the
Last week, a friend asked if I knew of any jobs for her recent graduate. Between his rigorous academic load, sports, and club activities that landed him in a prestigious university, he’d never held a job. “My fail,” she confessed. My kids have had jobs, but I have parenting fails of my own. I’m concerned
“What a night!” “I barely slept.” “I don’t even know what time I went to bed.” The same statements can have very different meanings in different stages of life. My friends and I used to worry about where everyone was at 2 a.m. Now, we worry about whether everyone’s baby has pooped that day. Laura-Kate
