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The question recently overhead in a Hinsdale boutique wasn't meant for me but I could have answered it. "When do you leave for Europe?" I didn't catch the answer because I was on a mission. My implausible dream: Find chic attire that could lead to my being mistaken for someone fluent in something other than a Southeast Missouri drawl while traveling in - yes - Europe. Given multiple news reports on the high demand for transatlantic flights, perhaps Hinsdale boutiques are...
"When the student is ready the teacher appears. When the student is truly ready the teacher disappears." - Lao Tzu I love that quote. Aren't we all students making discoveries about ourselves and the world throughout our lives? We are if we're awake. I know I've learned a lot since becoming a parent some 23 years ago. I don't normally get all philosophical, but I was trying to think of ideas for this essay when I passed by Peirce Park and saw Little League season has begun....
My mother immigrated to the United States from England by way of Greece just a few years before I was born. My British heritage meant my childhood was steeped in tea with a splash of milk and a generous amount of sugar. Sick, lonely, ordinary, celebratory and tearful days all called for a cup. This custom lent a stabilizing habit that followed me into motherhood. A few weeks after the birth of my first child, I called the doctor in a fit of new mother nerves, explaining in a q...
Here we are in April again, friends. The temperature is warming up (shhhh, this week doesn't count!), birds are nesting on my front porch and the Silberberg family calendar is bursting at the seams. Some entries are mine or my husband's but the majority belong to the 4-feet-and-under contingent of our crew. First there's education. Pretty standard, as times and locations have been unchanged since August. Add baseball, T-ball, soccer and basketball, all with games and...
Every year for Lent, I try to challenge myself by giving up something that has too much of a hold on my life. This year, that was Tik-Tok. I anticipated that it would be difficult - that's why I gave it up - and that I would feel out of the loop on trends, new music and other people's lives. What I didn't expect was to not miss it at all. And after going over 40 days without Tik-Tok, I've happily decided not to re-download it. Although I have always preached my disdain for...
We humans think a lot of ourselves. And rightly so. After all, unlike other species, we can contemplate the past and look forward to the future. We humans can talk in actual sentences with distinct and nuanced words. All you other species, what have you got? Quack, quack. Oink, oink. Bah, bah. Tweet, tweet. Come on, you, you — animals! And how about quantum physics? Any chimps or crows or dolphins thinking about that? Huh? Our greatest human minds can’t figure it out, of cou...
Our house is a very fine house. When we moved into our split, it was a compromise of sorts. The house - around 50 years old - was not new, yet not really old. Instead, it was affordable and fixed up. Nice and new to us. No weekends would be spent rehabbing. A compromise because I'm an old house person and my spouse a new house person. Give me quirky layouts, stairs in the kitchen, musty smells from summers past, spirits left behind. My husband likes pristine. Fresh paint,...
I recently stumbled into a conversation about faith, my palms sweaty, my heart pounding. We were about to break the unspoken rule of dinner gatherings: no discussion about politics or religion in this cultural moment, the risk of offense is too great with ever-present land mines that will cancel you out of the relationship. But there we were, seated on the couch, while the dessert was plated and the kids' voices rang around us. I listened as we sipped our drinks and my friend...
If you are a local music fan of a certain age, then you are aware of the recent passing of WXRT DJ Lin Brehmer. Sadly, Lin died of prostate cancer this past January at the age of 68. I have to tell you, this hit me quite hard. I have been a fan of XRT since my high school days, and Lin has been there almost the entire time. I didn't really know him personally, although he was a friend of my sister's, so I had the good fortune of meeting him a few times at concerts. Jovial, hea...
When songwriters Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz penned the country song “When You Say Nothing At All,” they didn’t mean keep your mouth shut when your loved one does something trivial that nonetheless annoys you. From the lyrics, it’s clear that we’re being told that a smile, a look or the “touch of your hand” says “I love you” just as clearly as speaking the words aloud. But I want to make the case that sometimes, keeping your mouth shut sings out how much you care. The din...
I'm sitting at my laptop wondering how Pam does it. How does she compose a column, every single week, and one that's a lot longer than the 450 words I need to write. I don't mean to dissuade any of you from becoming a guest columnist. It's fun, pushes your creative muscles. I'm waiting for inspiration, a heartwarming story, anything to start the new year off right. Instead, I've got nothing but the doldrums. My holiday spirit put away with the decorations. I'm not a winter...
I have never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions. The way I figure it, if you want to partake in self-improvement activities, why wait until Jan. 1? The date is utterly immaterial. But the pathetically predictable resolutions are the things that really irk me. Like losing weight. I already know I could use to shed a few pounds. That scenario is the same on New Year’s Day as it was on the Fourth of July. I’ve made the effort in the past, and yet here I am once again, lamen...
I was making dinner a few nights ago when I heard my boys having a serious conversation - or as serious as serious gets for a 4- and 6-year-old. "Hey E," said C, the older one. "Do you think you're on Santa's nice list or naughty list this year?" They were in the middle of destroying the living room for the fourth time since school let out. Race cars and Magna-Tiles littered the floor, a couch cushion fort lay half-toppled next to the Christmas tree and a Pisa-esque tower of...
The nice thing about winter is that there is nothing to do, and since there is nothing to do, there is no reason to feel guilty about doing nothing. Got that? Now summer is a different story. When the weather is nice, we feel compelled to go out and do something. Anything. Run, jump, bike, swim, barbecue. Eat barbecue. Eat more barbecue. Summer is a very demanding season. But winter asks nothing of us. We can cuddle up on the sofa and read, watch TV, surf social media. We can...
Hello. My name is Denise and I have struggled with alcohol all my adult life. And by "struggled" I mean I have never been able to convince myself that the stuff tastes good and is worth the calories. I would love to enjoy an occasional glass of wine with family and friends. But I've learned that drinking the wine isn't the problem; it's the "enjoying" bit. And I've tried. For years. And I'm envious of those who find something delicious and soothing in those cool-looking and in...
David Dragon was 16 years old when he secretly traversed the sewers of the Warsaw Ghetto, defiantly risking capture by the Nazis, to scavenge scraps of food. He brought back whatever little he could find to feed his parents and siblings. Yet despite his courageous efforts, his mother and father died of starvation. He was 19 when the Nazis captured him and sent him to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Amid the death and human suffering, he toiled laying the bricks that formed...
I don't know when it happened, but at some point a veil of unnecessary urgency settled over things. The school drop-off, the grocery store run, paperwork, laundry, meetings, phone calls, emails, texts, volunteering, helping with homework, preparing dinner and a smattering of extracurricular activities for every member of our household. All of these are chosen, worthy pursuits, yet overfilling our days with good things leaves little time to linger and the word "Hurry" on my lip...
My youngest son emerged from preschool recently sporting a huge grin. It wasn't an uncommon sight at pickup - he loves his school and is a smiley dude in general - but when he shouted, "MOM! GUESS WHY I HAD THE BEST DAY EVER!" before buckling himself into his carseat, I knew I was in for a treat. I inquired immediately. Did he get to be the line leader or the lunch helper? No. Was he fresh off constructing the largest Magna-Tile tower in the western suburbs? Nope. Could it be...
As a kid, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. I loved the start of fall, the weather getting cooler and the leaves changing colors, as well as the spookiness of the season. But even more than that, I loved how Halloween made October feel so special. In the midst of a busy reality - with tests, homework and extracurriculars - the world just seemed more like a fantasy whenever the holiday came around. And Hinsdale always did the best job of making Halloween feel special....
One would think that a stint in the Chicago Tribune's fashion section with experts who covered runway shows in New York and Paris would have put me on a path to confident fashion choices. But no. Or to add a touch of faux sophistication: "Mais non." I have studied Pinterest posts on "7 easy pieces that will take you through Europe for 10 days" and still ended up filling a suitcase the size of a steamer trunk. More recently, an online fashion dive led me to "coastal...
I have always encouraged my daughters to be independent, strong-willed women. Life is too short to ignore your dreams and squander all that this world has to offer. "Spread your wings and show the world what you are capable of!" So when my daughter Katie graduated from college a little over a year ago, it didn't surprise me when she told me what her intent was. The master plan was to come home and work. Save up money and then eventually take the plunge and move to none other...
Several weeks ago, a friend was lamenting summer’s end as we drank margaritas on her deck. We chatted and watched the western sky glow. “Summer’s the best. Every year it’s a different story,” she said. “I hate to say it, but I’m glad it’s over,” I replied. It’s autumn now. I hope your summer was a magical story. Like following ribbons of roads on cross-country adventures. Hots dogs, sun and too much beer in the bleachers. Sleeping with the windows open, the invisible tree...
I stood in line at the grocery store behind a mother and her two young children. I watched her unload her cart and manage her kids with such serenity and patience that I confess, at first, I wondered if she was the nanny. She calmly denied requests for cereal for lunch, gently admonished her older child for hitting the younger one and lovingly coaxed off the floor her daughter, who was splayed on it like a snow angel. "You're doing a wonderful job as a mom," I told her,...
I didn't know Craig Kruse. Craig passed away on Sept. 9 from brain cancer. He was 50 years old, six years younger than me. He left behind a wife and three children, many family members and an untold number of friends. Until recently, what I knew of Craig came from previous news articles and his obituary. A resident of Clarendon Hills, he served as a trainer and strength and conditioning coach at Hinsdale Central High School. His myriad personal and professional accomplishments...
Picture a hammock: blue, suspended between two maples. From the end of the hammock protrude two feet. They are well-tanned and have not seen a shoe in days. Sunlight glistens through the swaying pine branches beyond, dancing across the lake on a million tiny waves. The Internet scarcely touches this part of Wisconsin's northwoods; even the most urgent email is powerless to penetrate the pines. Oh Outlook, where is thy ping? It's family week here for four parents, three...
