It’s going so fast now, and I can hardly hold on. Sometimes, I really don’t know which way to look. When Aaron was a baby, he had medical issues that affected everything he did. We visited specialist after specialist, and each time I hoped we could find “answers,” as though there would be some sortContinue reading “Fight”
Category Archives: foster parenting
Ice Milk
It may be gone as quickly as it came, but while it was there, it mattered, and it was meaningful. I was a three year old ballerina. My sister, at five, could steal any show. She danced with confidence and grace. I did not inherit that gene. The home movies show me in a pinkContinue reading “Ice Milk”
Teacher
The crack in my van’s windshield had gotten really big, big enough that it was debatable as to whether it obstructed my driving. Dan took it for repair. While it was in the shop, it occurred to me that I had not cleaned the back seats in at least a couple of months. IContinue reading “Teacher”
Eggs in Winter
Sometimes, it’s just hard to keep up. This Christmas season, there has been so much good. As I stare at the beautiful plate of sugary goodness: peppermint bark, frosted cookies, candies sprinkled with red and green sugars, delivered by a longtime friend, I worry that in my own struggles to keep up with my dailyContinue reading “Eggs in Winter”
Turtles, Chickens, and the Stuff In Between
I didn’t look back; I couldn’t, for fear of what I would see. The sound was hollow, soul-shaking, and unforgettable. It must have broken into a thousand pieces. The lagoon has always been one of my favorite spots. I have been to breathtaking European gardens and tropical sandy beaches, but DeKalb’s East Lagoon is whereContinue reading “Turtles, Chickens, and the Stuff In Between”
Going Home
It could have been a driving snowstorm, or maybe the thickest, most dense fog that I had experienced; I don’t remember the precise conditions, but the fear will never leave my memory. I’m a nervous driver anyway, but this night, travel would have been unsafe even for the seasoned race car driver. I should haveContinue reading “Going Home”
When the Doors are Closed
The chickens were locked out of their coop, and darkness had done its best to set in. It was a warm night, and I could almost hear the stillness in the stolen radiance of this late autumn evening. There was a rustle, and then a sort of panicked chicken sound, followed by more of theContinue reading “When the Doors are Closed”
If It’s Over
When the lists are longer than the number of days, and more chores roll out as they present themselves, there is a good chance that it’s not all going to get done. I sank my shovel into the edge of my fourteen by twenty-two foot garden plot and stood quietly to watch the combines, mechanicalContinue reading “If It’s Over”
There’s a Chicken in My Car: October Baseball and Other Rarities
She wanted to know what she should bake; she was taking suggestions via Facebook. My friend Chrissy is a self-proclaimed therapeutic baker. She’s also a foster mom. She goes to court, she comes home, and she bakes. And lucky are we that live close enough to be her neighbors. Foremost in my mind as theContinue reading “There’s a Chicken in My Car: October Baseball and Other Rarities”
Words
I was so distracted by what she had said that the rest of her words swirled together and floated in an elusive ring through the air, mingling with the incense before fading to a place where there are no words, only the deep sense that something indiscernible has happened. What she said must haveContinue reading “Words “
