Family Musings

Her hands were cold. Even the expensive, white leather gloves she kept perfectly clean couldn't keep the chill from settling into her fingers. "Where is that man?" she muttered to no one in particular. "I've been waiting long enough." After another moment, a cream colored luxury sedan pulled up and a man in a black suit and cap quickly jumped out to open the door for Rebecca. As usual, he remained silent, performing his duty. And as usual, his thoughts were 7 miles away. With his 3 daughters, huddled under the covers together in one bed, doing their best to stay warm while they waited for their Daddy to come home on Christmas Eve. Under his breath, he said, "It's already been such a long day. Please God, let her be done with her shopping." "Just take me home. I am done for the day," Rebecca called out from the back seat, much to the driver's relief. But there was a problem. Even though she was tired from a day of lunchin...

It still happens. Skin color still matters to some people. In the town I used to teach in, there was an unwritten rule that if a white girl had ever dated a black boy, then she was off limits to all of the white boys. I as appalled when a fellow teacher shared this with me. I knew I was in a rural town, but couldn't believe that people really thought this was acceptable behavior. When I was a teacher, I had that quote on my wall. I don't remember where I first saw it, but I discussed it on the first day of class each year. When I turned away, the kids would laugh about who the "dull" crayons were and, always, one of the more extroverted girls would claim they were the "pretty" crayon. I gave them a minute to get that silliness out of their systems and then re-read the quote to them. I explained that no matter which kind of crayon they were, the bright yellow crayon that was always a good friend, or the black crayon that liked to wear dark clothes and had lot...

Deleted: I wasn't sure if it came off like a pity party or pride.

What could be more wonderful for a new bride than to find out that her dad has just spent a very long lunch recounting all of her less than wonderful character-traits to her husband to be? At the time, not much. But in hindsight, it was one of our best wedding gifts. When I was engaged to be married my dad had a serious talk with my future husband. My dad decided that a few weeks before the wedding was the best time to catalog all of my quirks and issues for Bruce. After he spent God only knows how long detailing my foibles and faults, he ended the discussion by letting Bruce know I could only go home once. If Bruce decided to "send me back" then it better be for good. My dad wasn't going to let me yo-yo back and forth. The message was, when he takes me from my parent's house he better mean it. When I first heard about this, I thought of it as very light-hearted advice and it has been a joke in our family for 10 years now. However, recent reflection on the discussion ...

The following letter was written as a submission to Michelle's March Write Away contest hosted at her blog . The theme was "the next 20 years." I decided to write about the next 20 years from the perspective of my daughter, looking back on them as she prepares to graduate from college. Maybe I'm a little optimistic, but what new parent doesn't dream of the best for her babies? *********************************** Dear Mom & Dad, I can't believe I am going to turn 21 this year. My college days have just flown by and now I am officially a proud member of the class of 2028! 20 years ago as you watched me read my first book, were you two dreaming of this day? I never expected to feel such excitement about graduating from college, but it just hit me today that I am almost done with this phase of my life. I will be turning a corner this year and life will never be the same as it is now. Anyway, before I head off into the "real" world, I just wanted to ...