Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

I remember when I received the news that my grandmother had passed away.  I was living overseas when the phone rang that night.  When I took the receiver, I heard my Dad's normally stoic voice tremble.  In North Carolina, his mouth formed the words, "Momma died today," and in my dark office in Wales, my ear passed the news on to my brain.  My first reaction, being a Momma myself, was one of sadness and sympathy toward the man so far away at the other end of that receiver.  I think I said, "I'm so sorry.  Are you okay?'  Losing a Momma creates a complicated, ragged void since memories of mom are often tied to all parts of ourselves. My grandmother had been wasting away for a few years.  After living a selfless life, she faded away painfully slowly before our eyes, so I did not feel much sadness on her behalf.  I think we all were more than a bit relieved that she had been released from what her life had become in the end.  The last tim...

Yesterday the kids had the day off, so we had some time on our hands.  I decided it would be a fantastic idea to attempt my first ever King Cake (with the help of three very eager little girls).  Turns out it was indeed a fantastic idea, but I didn't realize that it would take up a good part of our day.  A decent amount of time was spent kneading, rolling and shaping the dough, but most of the time was spent simply waiting for it to rise.  I told my kids that the dough would not rise if the house wasn't quiet, and I will stand by that statement until King Cakes go out of fashion.  Noticing how difficult it was to stay quiet as well as how beautiful and sunny it was outside, the girls decided to take a little picnic and a card game outside. Never mind that there was still a bit of snow on the ground.  It was 40 degrees and sunny which is springtime weather in Michigan... The picnic was glorious for about ten minutes.  Then the gang determined th...

 My husband and I are huge fans of downtime.  Before we had children, I was a school teacher and he was some sort of chemical engineer.  We poured ourselves into our jobs during the week, and on the weekends we seriously committed ourselves to downtime.  After sleeping rather late, I used to lie in bed all day on a Saturday and read.  Occasionally I'd take a break for snacks, or to chat with my husband, or if the plot of my novel grew particularly taxing, I'd pause to take a bubble bath.  Relaxing wasn't the only thing we found lots of time for, and consequently, I found out I was pregnant after we had been married only a few months. My first pregnancy was rather complicated with preterm labor scares starting at around 20 weeks.  I spent four months of that pregnancy on strict bed rest.  There I seriously perfected the art of downtime.  I read countless books, learned to cross stitch, watched marathon episodes of my t...

Valentine's Day used to be for lovers, right?  When I was a kid in elementary school, we gave out little paper cards, and somebody's mama would bring in cookies and juice.  This all took about half an hour out of our school day, and then we went right back to our math worksheets.  We knew that grown ups might have a night out on the town with champagne, roses and chocolates because Valentine's Day was primarily about romantic love, something that we, as 4th graders, had no interest in. Somehow this has all changed.  I do not have issues with the fact that the holiday has metamorphosed into a day that embraces children as well as lovers, but I do think that we have taken Valentine's Day for children way over the top.  Yesterday at school my kids had parties that included elaborate games (Cupid's archery, anyone?), craft projects, a sugar-laden refreshment buffet, and scads of trashy, plastic party favors.  The kids all gave each other not only paper car...

There has been far too much vomiting, aching, moaning and gnashing of teeth at my house this week.  One after another this hateful plague hit each of us.  For the first half of the week, I did laundry, regularly soaped up and scalded my hands, and fought the good fight.  Occasionally I'd recoil after touching an apparently innocuous household object, and suspiciously ask the nearest sick person, "Did you touch this, breathe on this, or lick this?"  Without waiting for a reply, I'd chuck it into the closest sink or laundry basket to be washed.  I was slightly maniacal, but I was healthy... until Wednesday evening. On Wednesday afternoon I left my dying husband at home in bed with a seven year old who swore she would look after him while I was gone.  Then I took my oldest daughter and the tag-along toddler with a mad case of cabin fever to Urgent Care where it was confirmed that, on top of a raunchy stomach virus, my daughter Emma also had Strep throat....