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*sigh* What a big week. This column was written three weeks ago back in October. It’s challenging to prepare something for a future date, especially for a week which will have been historic, and without knowing where we, as a society, will be at that moment. At the time of writing, nothing is certain except that at the time of publication, it is likely that half of us feel relieved and excited about the outcome of election events earlier this week — and half of us feel dev...
One of my favorite things to do is to sit on our front porch on a warm evening ... and listen. If it’s a Thursday night, I’ll catch the sound of a band and laughter coming from the east as the festivities for Uniquely Thursday kick into gear. At the same time I’ll hear a competing sound coming from the south. Start whistles and cheers boom out of the swimming pool, over the tracks and to my perch. I’ll remember with both fondness and exhaustion the days when our family...
Last month my husband and two of our kids went to Ohio to visit family and be in the "zone of totality" for the solar eclipse. It was difficult for our middle daughter, a high schooler, and me, to take a day away from school and work. We had a memorable experience here. We put on protective glasses and had all sorts of fun with coworkers and friends. It was great. But when I saw the photos and heard accounts from my parents' backyard in Ohio with everyone together as the sky...
Faith is a timely topic this week. According to Google, faith is the trust or confidence in someone or something. It's also described as a strong belief in God or the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof. My own interpretation is that faith is opening yourself up, allowing something into your heart that can't be seen or proven, yet felt very deeply. It's an acceptance that we won't always have the answers and a vulnerability to trust the...
Hunched into the crawl space, my eyes do a quick scan. A collection of unlabeled plastic bins are organized into sections, known only to me as "Halloween," "Easter," "Christmas," I see it. A weathered cardboard box that predates the colorful bins surrounding it by not just decades, but generations. Ever so gingerly I pick it up and squat-walk-shuffle my way out of the storage space. Relieved to be standing up straight again, I carefully open it. Beneath protective layers of...
"So, make the friendship bracelets. Take the moment and taste it," my newly minted 13-year-old sings along as we string tiny colorful beads and letters on elastic. "Yeah, Mom, that's my favorite line," she claims. (Yes, this is a column full of love for Taylor Swift. So, if you're a hater, who's "gonna hate-hate-hate," apologies. You probably "need to just stop" - reading, that is.) The way my daughter starts the statement off with "yeah" makes me smile. It's as if she thinks...
We moved to Hinsdale 17 years ago. In that time, I've grown a few kids, volunteered in their schools, engaged in the community, logged a lot of hours on the sidelines of sporting events and logged even more hours behind the steering wheel of a mini-van shuttling young passengers around to those events. Treasured friendships have been formed and professional achievements celebrated all within the friendly confines of the 60521-zip code. About the time our family moved to town,...
