Friends come and go, but is FAMILY really forever? The day my father called to tell me my mom had cancer, I hung up the phone, turned to my husband and said, “Well, that's the end of my family.” I said it, but I didn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it, though I … Continue reading Letting Go of Family
Years ago, I took my five year old son to a playgroup. It was our first time at this particular group, meeting at the hilltop home of the founding member, and we were over an hour late. All the regular members of the group were already there, the moms gathered on the back porch watching … Continue reading Can We All just Get Along?
What is Your Purpose in Living? Christians and Muslims (actual believers, not in name only because they celebrate Christmas or Eid al-Fitr) believe the purpose of living is to serve and reflect their God’s will to ensure their assent to heaven after death. Jews focus on the present rather than an afterlife. They believe humans … Continue reading The Purpose of Life
“I saw someone die today, Mom,” my daughter told me on the phone, her voice four octaves higher than normal, like she’d been sucking on helium. “Where are you?” I heard street noise in the background. “I’m on the 101. I’m driving home from the hospital.” Again, her voice was...off—too high, too cheery. “I saw … Continue reading On Raising a Doctor
For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a mom. I was absolutely convinced I could parent better than my mother. My father was the breadwinner — king of our small kingdom — and more into himself than raising the two kids he produced and the one he adopted. I became a … Continue reading Letting Go of Adult Kids
Typically, on Sunday mornings my husband and I share articles from the New York Times. He’ll often read me pieces while I prepare breakfast or vice versa, and we’ll discuss the ones that pique our interest. The year-end edition of the Sunday Magazine runs detailed obituaries on a handful of famous and infamous people who … Continue reading Do You Matter?
My daughter came home crying from her job as a barista for a local Boba Tea shop. “They don’t like me, Mom! I’m doing the exact same level of work that all the new kids are, and they keep calling ME out cuz I’m not Asian.” Several other barista-type jobs at various local businesses to … Continue reading Racism—Up Close, and Personal
How do you get good at anything? Practice. How do you get great? Obsession — Practice most all the time. Pick any famous author, artist, or musician, and they’ll all have obsession in common. And while we, the public, enjoy the fruits of their creative labors, those closest to these individuals were/are generally left wanting more … Continue reading The Price of Brilliance
My husband and I raised our children without religion. We gave them no religious identity (as in claiming to be Christian or Jewish because of our parentage). We are both devout atheists, and I use the term devout with purpose. We don’t believe in a higher power, or any gods, or even the possibility of one. We are … Continue reading Raising Kids without Religion
Spent my life looking in at the world I live, but never ‘fitting in’... Ever been with a group of people, and everyone is talking amicably, (or on their cellphones), and you’re sitting there watching and listening, and you feel like an alien? Not a foreign national among a group of natives. More like you’re … Continue reading Outside Looking In
