Core Truths

Seasons.  They come and they go.  Summer gives way to autumn, autumn gives way to winter, and so on.  We know this.  We get this.  We see a bare tree in the winter and rather than cutting it down saying it bears no fruit, we wait.  We wait until the spring knowing the weather will change and it will give way to another beautiful blooming season. I know this, and I have seen this. I remember when my husband and I were first married.  He was teaching, and I was attending college full-time and was working part-time as a bank teller.  We had a brand new apartment in a brand new complex, and we had all that brand new wedding stuff.  Life was good! Then we found out we would need to move back home to Louisiana for my husband to finish his teacher certification requirements.  Then we found out we were pregnant.   We moved back, my husband enrolled in the certification program, and found a teaching job…an hour from where we...

Oh, parents.  If you are reading this on Sunday night, I know you are tired.  I see you.  I am you.  We have spent countless hours shopping for matching dresses and shoes for the girls, a collared shirt our boys reluctantly agree to wear, maybe something new for mom and dad.  We have scoured the shelves for their favorite candies, and we have outdone ourselves on the size of the baskets.  We have cleaned and cooked and cleaned and put away the stuff in the kitchen.  We have bought eggs, dyed eggs, stuffed eggs, hidden eggs, found eggs, stepped on eggs, eaten eggs.  And now, we sit. As I sit thinking back on the past few days, I am literally in awe.  I am in awe and it has absolutely nothing to do with the outfits, the baskets, the food, or the eggs.   While all of those things are commonplace and business-as-usual for us, this year we made one dramatic change.  We decided not to travel out-of-state to spend the holiday with...

I can’t think of a better feeling than something being done.  Like finished.  Like you worked so hard on this particular goal or project and now it is complete.  I mean, that is good stuff.  But then there are other things…things that you complete, but then they just come right back…things that are never really done.  Like doing the dishes. You know what I am talking about…you rinse and wash, you load the dishwasher, you hand wash whatever doesn’t fit, you dry and put away…and then you finally step back, feeling happy and satisfied with a job well done.   And that’s usually when it happens…someone places a dirty dish in the sink! Back when I was growing up, I remember a poem my mom kept pinned to the cabinet next to the kitchen sink.  The poem begins, “Thank God for dirty dishes.”  Now, allow me to digress in a Sophia Petrillo moment as I offer you this backstory.  Picture it: the backwoods of Louisiana, 1989.  There wer...

Sometimes we get parenting wins.  You know, you come up with some great plan, new routine, fresh perspective, creative consequences, or you simply say the right thing at the right time and voila! It seems to happen like magic and things just work. And other times you get apples and potatoes. Let me explain. It was a few weeks ago, hubby and I were in cahoots and on board with one another to turn over a new leaf and to get serious about making some healthy eating choices.  For the most part, we were already on track and simply needed some tweaking and parameters.  The real challenge and kind of final piece to this puzzle was getting our kids on board as well.  I really wanted them to take ownership of their healthy food choices, and I wanted them to want to steer clear of junk food.  And boy, did I have a plan! We decided we would have the kids watch some of the same documentaries we have watched that have been eye-openers for us in terms of over...