National Down’s syndrome month is yet another opportunity for us to celebrate our girl. She is in a word, JOY. Emily is larger than life. Her extra chromosome is anything but an accident. She is the most whole person I know!
Hello, Emily Ruth
Sisters in Cahoots
My daughter, Serrah is 30 years old today!
I stopped dead in my tracks, eyes wide, as I took in the sight of my four-year-old daughter, hair hacked off just below her jaw line with stray remnants of her beautiful long golden brown locks hanging as strings that she had missed with the scissors. “Oh, Maggie, your hair!” I wanted to cry. “Sorry, Mama,” was all she said. Hazel eyes looked into mine. I read them clearly, expectation, a hint of fear, and a challenge. Would I bring her along on Serrah’s third birthday outing to the hair dresser and out for ice cream? I had no choice. “I wanted a haircut too,” Maggie’s usually boisterous voice was lowered to a hoarse whisper. “I can see that. What am I going to do with you? Maggie Ann, you know better.” It would seem her dubious plan was hatched. I shook my head in disbelief, “Alright, girls, get your…
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Sometimes Nice Guys Stand A Chance
I sat at a table, well two tables pushed together, with my friend Lisa's computer geek friends. I understood none of their computer jokes, yet they were friendly. Some of the DJ's from The Fox classic radio station were also present. One guy showed a bit of potential. I assumed from his voice that he... Continue Reading →
Millennial Brady Bunch
I’ve been unable to write for a very long time, fixated on one thing… the divorce. How can I write about something so monumental, and do it right? I will say what is lovely and good and sad and right. We married young, we had five kids within five years, we weren’t college educated. We were an after school special. We didn’t stand a chance, yet we managed to keep it together for thirteen years, doing the best we could while flying blind with no safety net underneath. We simply fell apart, that last thread eventually breaking. We were so busy trying to keep ourselves together and fighting to stay together, that there was little left to devote to kids who deserved more. We were determined that we would never become a statistic. When, in fact, we beat the odds of many statistics that demanded we fail. We beat them…
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She Followed Them To School
"Again? How? I DROVE the kids to school!" I was embarrassed, frustrated, and slightly amused. Our Lab/Retriever cross, Maddie, was running around the playground and at the doors of the grade school, trying to get in. The first incident had been even better. She had gotten IN to the school and was roaming the halls... Continue Reading →
A Little Boy’s Treasures
“You know, Gramma, what might seem like garbage to one person, could be really important to someone else,” six-year old Ben with his big round sober blue eyes looked earnestly up at my mother. He was beautiful, full of innocence, and had a perchance for garbage. Clean-up week was my worst nightmare. Ben celebrated it.... Continue Reading →
Comfort and Joy
"I just can't eat another bite." I tried coaxing, "You haven't even taken a first bite. Try a first bite.” I sat in the dining room at the facility where I worked, enjoying my Monday duty of assisting some residents with their noon meal. It was often a welcome break from the other work I... Continue Reading →
Alligator In The Dark
"Maxieee. Where are you?" There was a pause, and then a shushing sound." I listened carefully, trying to decipher where the "shh" had come from. It was only a matter of two more heartbeats, "I'm right here!" It wasn't fair, I suppose. No, it wasn't at all. Four-year-old Max could often be counted on to... Continue Reading →
Where Were We?
Life happens every day. There is no “with or without us.” It carries us along on its current whether we fight against it or simply relax and go with the flow. My mom was holding Emily’s tiny hand, palm up, studying it, and I knew what was going through her mind. She broke from her... Continue Reading →
Driver’s Seat
I sat five-year old Emily on the hood of the car to tie her shoe, certain that my other three blonde heads and one brunette had exited the vehicle. As the car began to move, my eyes flew to the steering wheel to see the giant round blue eyes of my four year old, Ben... Continue Reading →
Love My Messy Life 