Windows & Mirrors

The Saturday before my birthday, I took a road trip to Greensboro with my sister, Emilie, who was in town for the weekend. Elisabeth and Rachel jumped in the car with us, and we headed for the Greensboro Science Center, a cool hybrid zoo, aquarium, and museum that is the perfect destination for this challenge: […]

Of Magnets and Memories

I’ve never been much of a collector; it’s hard when you move a lot. As a kid, I didn’t have any obsessive interest or a particular preoccupation that might have been the impetus for a collection.I didn’t encourage my kids to be collectors either. As an adult, I do have enough notebooks and coffee mugs, […]

And the Beat Goes On

There is something about live music, live theater, and live sports; experiencing such talent in real time always makes me emotional. It is one of those times in life when I am aware I am alive.

Maybe This Should Come With a Trigger Warning For Grief

Hi, it’s me, your walking nightmare. Andrew, our youngest child and only son, just 25-years-old, died on October 24, 2024. That’s hard to write. It’s harder to say, it’s even harder to believe. I could say he passed away or we had to say goodbye or, I hate this one the most, that we lost […]

Better To Have Read and Forgotten Than Never To Have Read At All

Once upon a time, a girl and her sister set out on a quest to READ AN ENTIRE BOOK SERIES. The task was arduous and irritating, and although meticulously chronicled, the quest was ultimately abandoned. A new quest was undertaken and it proved to be everything the first quest was not: mythical, entertaining, action-packed. That […]

There’s No I In Team

I’ve always been more of an individual sports gal. I started gymnastics when I was 6, maybe 7. As a middle schooler, I ran track. Does cheerleading count as a team sport? Or bowling? I bowled in a league as a 6th grader. 100 Things To Do Before You Grow Up encourages kids to think […]

To the Moon and Back

It’s really hard to write about space and not rely on cliches. Whether it’s Space, the final frontier, or In space, no one can hear you scream, or To infinity and beyond!, I’m having a hard time being original, even my title has been used time and again. Go ahead, I bet you can think […]

Two Scoops, Please

I’ve been trying to figure out how to write about ice cream. No doubt, it’s popular. I’m sure ice cream dislikers exist but they probably keep it on the down-low, tired of listening to people’s shocked exclamations. I happen to be related to someone who doesn’t like chocolate and people are shocked, shocked I tell […]

Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen

This week we are EXPERIENCING PUBLIC HUMILIATION. That’s not actually in the book and I’m not about to relive any public humiliation I experienced as a kid, but I do want to write about the crushing humiliation I experienced last week when I published a blog post with a glaring grammatical error in the title! […]

Remember to Breathe

Some of the suggestions in 100 Things to Do Before You Grow Up are puzzling. They are either too difficult for a kid to access without help, i.e. climb a mountain, or too extra, like this week: BECOME A MASTER PUBLIC SPEAKER. Let’s break this down, not only is the idea to take on a […]