My mother: “Your music is much too loud.” My father: “You are a leadfoot.” Decades later: My youngest child: “Your music is too loud.” “You drive really *fast.” *I drive the speed of the traffic around me when the children are in the car. It’s only when I have a car to myself that I […]
The husband and children are going to be in a parade this weekend. They’ve been in local parades and parades in much bigger cities. They’ve been in so many parades that they are parade professionals. They know the hurry up and wait rhythm and they know the funny wrist wave. I have been in exactly […]
Guard Teen planned to spend the Thanksgiving holidays complaining to her older sister about not bringing a rescue puppy home from her Texas flood cleanup. Instead of a puppy, Unemployed Artist brought home a boyfriend. He was so charming and good natured that Guard Teen forgot to torture her sibling. I didn’t remind her either.
I’ve sat on the sidelines of hundreds of Color Guard and Winter Guard practices and performances. I’ve stood beside the husband while he juggles fire. I have never feared for my safety as much as I do at the middle school child’s basketball practices. There are hordes of balls being thrown in every direction on […]
Between the husband’s keyboard building/collecting and the oldest child’s woodcraft hobby, the mail carrier totes packages to our door every week. Last week, the mail carrier told the youngest child that we are his best customer. The child and his father found that much funnier than I did. The youngest child expected his new school […]
Thanksgiving 2016 A photo posted by Cathy McCaughan (@cathymccaughan) on Nov 25, 2016 at 6:08am PST Peak happiness is all of the children (who are no longer children) at home.
The youngest child lost another baby tooth because he is “NOT a baby, apparently he doesn’t need the Graco FastAction-Fold-Click-Connect stroller anymore .” At bedtime, I put it in a small ziploc and handed it to him for tucking under his pillow. He held the bag up to a light and studied the tooth. “You […]
Ten is such an interesting age. Every so often, a fleeting breeze of maturity takes possession and you are actually face to face with the adult that the child is going to be in the future. Then, mid-sentence, the spirit slips back into a different timeline and you are trying to have a conversation with […]