“Mommy, I can’t sleep.”  How many times did my daughter quietly awaken me as a young child with those four words? Her tiny voice punctured the fog of slumber as my mind would straddle dueling thoughts; I’m going to be so exhausted at work tomorrow…. At least I get to catch up on snuggles with Emi..  We would  stumble down the hall to her room, climb into her bed, and I’d drape my arms around her sweet little body while stroking her halo of curls. I always  marveled at how she could slip into a deep sleep within minutes. We used to call it Mommy Magic. My mere presence was ..read more

“When will I have fun again?” I asked my older sister a few weeks after giving birth to my first child. She was three years into motherhood and pregnant with her second, so I was relying on her sage wisdom. “Eighteen years.” she said without a hint of sarcasm or levity. That did it. The tears  I had been choking down spilled freely like an freshly unclogged faucet. 18 years?  18 years? I am responsible for this human for 18 years? What have I done? I’m never going to have fun again. I must warn the others…. Zero sleep, a howling newborn, and a bad case of undiagnosed postpartum de ..read more

I can’t believe the day has finally arrived. What should I wear? No, I can’t wear that, they saw me in that shirt last month. Where are my  pants with a zipper?  I better leave enough time to do my hair…. Anticipation surges through me every four weeks when I hop in my car and drive to the podiatrist. Having a rare autoimmune disease, I’ve essentially  been under house arrest since last March. My one thrill is venturing out to have calcium deposits scraped off the tips of my toes. Please don’t be jealous. We can’t all live my wild and glamorous lifestyle.  During a recent ..read more

 This piece was Cowritten by Dr. Jim O’Malley Having taught for 24 years, I thought I had seen it all. But nothing could have prepared me for teaching through a pandemic. Covid -19 has brought the educational system as we knew it to a screeching halt. With lightning speed, our students’ daily lives have been shattered; going from a predictable rhythm to unstructured hours stretching before them. For some kids, this may be an opportunity to learn about resilience, adaptability, and managing disappointment. For others, they have lost the one place in the world they felt safe. As teachers, w ..read more

via Having Been on a Ventilator, I’d Like to Sit This Pandemic Out ..read more

There’s a photo of me in an adorable yellow bikini. My platinum blonde locks glisten in the sunlight, perfectly contrasting my golden tan. I’m posing poolside with a radiant smile and sparkling green eyes. I was two. The pool was of the plastic wading variety. The year was 1976; before scleroderema desolated my body. That cute bikini-wearing toddler had no idea that eight years later, a rare autoimmune disease would drag her through an unwelcome physical metamorphosis. The little girl in the snapshot has smooth elastic skin, free from red splotchy broken capillaries (telangiectasia) cascading ..read more

My past Mother’s Day blogs have focused on singular aspects of motherhood. I’ve dug into how my dysfunctional childhood shaped me as a parent, the challenges of motherhood, the simultaneous joy and grief we mamas experience as our children grow older, and of course, I’ve saluted America’s #1 Mom; Carol Brady. Writing allows me to explore the different facets of motherhood in separate silos, but that’s not the way it works in real life. As a real-life mom, I can experience joy, distress, mortification, pride, agitation, disappointment, and rage all within five minutes (sometimes less if my chil ..read more

“I can see Russia from my house.” Who remembers that famous one-liner spoken by Tina Fey when she portrayed Sarah Palin in 2008? Well, I’ve got a new spin on that legendary quote. “I can see Northwood from my house.” Don’t stop reading- I can explain! Northwood is not just the school where my son graduated, and my daughter currently attends junior high. It is where the marvelous Rachel Brosnahan was first bitten by the theatre bug. The very woman who just won her SECOND Golden Globe (she also got the Emmy last year) for her lead role in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel grew up in my neighborhood! If ..read more

I didn’t know it was possible for human glands to generate so much sweat. Fluid sprinkling from my scalp like a showerhead dribbles over my eyelids, blurring my vision.  Perspiration drips down my back, pooling at the bottom of my shirt and rim of my jeans. My tongue is carpeted in a thick layer of wool. I glance at the clock on the wall. Five minutes down, 55 to go. 5 Hours Earlier…. The first day of my 22nd year teaching began in my school’s newly built gym. My principal asked us to stand in a circle for an opening activity. Seventy pairs of shoes squeaked against the high-gloss floor a ..read more