cultivating me

This week, my two oldest kids were on Spring break. My youngest? His Spring break was during the two weeks prior. And mine? two weeks before that – how is it possible to have 4 weeks of Spring break between the 4 of us and yet, none of them overlapped. I don’t know. I do [...]

my sweet baby girl i know this is a few days late – okay almost a week! but you know, i think i still need time to properly come to terms with how grown up you are.  sixteen! wow – you are so grown.  almost a woman and yet i can clearly remember the day [...]

do you ever wish you could do that?  turn back time?  maybe to make a different choice or to erase a mistake?  what about just for the chance to relive a day or a moment?  these days i’ve been awfully nostalgic and sentimental.  i don’t know what it is that has brought this on.  maybe [...]

these are my kids–otherwise known as “the monkeys”.  this photo was taken just about a month ago after a performance my daughter had for her ballet studio.  there’s a great deal i like about this photo but mostly i love it because it so clearly and honestly depicts them. notice the little monkey – can’t [...]

Today is Tuesday; just an ordinary day.  It’s not the beginning nor the end of the week – it’s not even the middle of the week…but Tuesday is about to become a very special day. Recently, my daughter was promoted to a member of the ballet company she’s been training at and my oldest son [...]

These are my daughter’s own words.  If it wasn’t clear to me how grown up she is and is getting, it sure is now!! Pay close attention to the last paragraph because I think she’s on to something there.  It is things like this which make me look at her and ask “Is she really [...]

or as so happens to be the case in my house, learning to get yourself where you need to be.  but you know the whole leaving the nest metaphor seemed appropriate here.  i’ve talked in the past about learning to let go of my kids, about learning to let them learn to do things – [...]

is hard.  i not quite sure i how i ever healed my broken hearts and i surely don’t know how to heal another’s.  especially when it is my daughters. today i saw her broken heart as she looked for her good friend to say one last goodbye.  C moved here with her parents over the [...]

today when i picked my daughter up from school, i knew before she even got to the car that something was wrong.  she was walking too fast with her head down and the closer she got, the more i could see the redness in her cheeks.  by the time she reached the door, she was [...]

yesterday morning i woke up early.  not because the neighbor’s dog was barking or there was a lawn mower running or because the kids were being too loud running up and down the hallway.  i got up early ON PURPOSE! 8am to be exact and i was completely excited to do it. a couple of [...]