DIVORCED A car the size of a house rams our house that’s the size of a house. Thunder from a 1986 Thunderbird shakes me out of my canopy bed to the window to the street. It’s the moment I know my mother is a liar, a big one. She lays there lazy for too longContinue reading “Divorced By Amy Barnes”
Tag Archives: Family
At Home, Adrift by Rashi Rohatgi
In lockdown, my son sings in the bath. “U is for ulta-pulta,” he says, quoting his current favorite book. He warns his wooden flamingo, “Here comes a topsy-turvy wave!” The research suggests that trying to pass on a language sans context to a third generation is hopeless, but I cannot stop. His first blocks wereContinue reading “At Home, Adrift by Rashi Rohatgi”
Driving Like a Boss by Myna Chang
T-Rex dislikes my neighbor’s dog. It’s a vicious little yapper. T-Rex is afraid Neighbor-Dog will bite his foot. Stop being a wimp, I say. Stomp that mutt. Sometimes Neighbor-Dog chases my kid. Don’t let that yapping menace chase my kid, I say. Use those big dinosaur feet. T-Rex would rather go water skiing. Fine, I say. But I can’t drive the boat. There’s too much turbulence. I’ll do it, T-Rex says. Vroom vroom.Continue reading “Driving Like a Boss by Myna Chang”
Two Micros by Melissa Llanes Brownlee
Tweezer Your hair is going gray but you don’t want to dye it yet. That would admit defeat. I part its darkness in uneven rows, with a comb, starting in the front and working my way to the back, hunting. Pull it out from the root, you instruct, but I can’t get a good gripContinue reading “Two Micros by Melissa Llanes Brownlee”
Motherhood (Or Lack Thereof) by Maegan Gwaltney
My two small nephews and tiny niece climbed out of the couch cushion fortress on the bedroom floor. As the first sliver of sunlight whispered through the blinds, they jumped around me on the bed, shouting the details of their dreams. I was in my early twenties and loved my older sister’s kids- the weaselsContinue reading “Motherhood (Or Lack Thereof) by Maegan Gwaltney”
The Last Six Cookies in the Package by Hannah Grieco
For the middle of the night, sneaking out of your bed, wide awake and hungry: a peach, leftover spaghetti, the last six cookies in the package. Eat fast, before your parents wake up, before the furnace kicks in downstairs, before monsters creep toward you from the shadows. Slink back to your room, bursting but notContinue reading “The Last Six Cookies in the Package by Hannah Grieco”
Two Essays by William Woolfitt
W Is for Wet Concrete In the corner of the graveyard, not far from his church, Father Wernerus builds a concrete altar with niches. Before the concrete dries, he embellishes it with crushed purple glass, golden tiles. He sees in his designs clusters of grapes, ears of wheat. He imagines visitors who will come, and see, and beContinue reading “Two Essays by William Woolfitt”
BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH by Jacqueline Doyle
“People with dementia often ask to go home. … many nursing homes and hospitals have installed fake bus stops. When a person asks to go home, an aide takes them to the bus stop, where they sit and wait for a bus that never comes.” Larissa MacFarquhar, “The Memory House,” New Yorker (October 8, 2018) On ourContinue reading “BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH by Jacqueline Doyle”
Pet Negotiations by Hema Nataraju
My six-year-old daughter wants a pet. No, she needs a pet –her words, not mine. As much as I love dogs, I’m not a pet person. Not at this point in my life. This almost-40, perpetually exhausted mother of two (including an extremely active toddler) has no energy left to take care of one moreContinue reading “Pet Negotiations by Hema Nataraju”
Parenting in the Wild by Carmen Kinniburgh
Seconds after I began swaying in a lakeside hammock with my baby cradled in my arms, my 3- and 5-year- olds began to wander out of my sight into the thick of the nearby woods. Barefoot and bathing-suited, they were armed with sticks and their imaginations; peals of laughter and the crack of dry woodContinue reading “Parenting in the Wild by Carmen Kinniburgh”
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