As a new parent, I am re-learning many things. One lesson in particular is about getting attached to expectations, versus understanding the reality of a situation. When we have an expectation that has very little to do with reality, and more to do with our desires, we can easily become frustrated.
Learning our baby’s napping routine [...]
My husband’s parents once told me the story of how he learned to ride a bike. Apparently, he hadn’t quite figured out how to brake, and the concept scared him. His solution was to ride full-speed into a group of trash cans. For some reason, this was a less scary way to stop than braking- [...]
Right now is a very charged and tense time in our country. The election is drawing rapidly near, and it seems that the country is again split in half. The candidates are calling each other names, and we are being inundated with negative ads. Tensions are running high between people who hold opposing political views. [...]
When I was in my twenties, I got into one of those relationships that was all passion (okay, and sex) with very little else holding it together. The first time I came over to this boyfriend’s house and up to his bedroom, there was a striking absence of anything but a bed. This new lover [...]
When I was 24, I had knee surgery that landed me with a few weeks on crutches. I was in a good amount of pain, so I was taking Vicodin as one does in these situations. One day, I was hobbling home on my crutches when a voice called out to me from the front [...]
Lately, I’ve become a bit obsessed with reducing energy use in our house. It started with the refrigerator, and me finding out that it uses three times the amount of energy a standard new one does. Then, I discovered that a good chunk of energy was wasted by having our TV and its accompanying recording [...]
Dogs have many different reactions to fear- some cower, some attack. For years, we had the kind of dog that reacted to her fear by attacking- and she had a bottomless well of fear and anxiety. Liver was a muscular, hyper Dalmatian who came into the world with faulty wiring in her nervous system- constantly tense [...]
One day, my husband and I were riding our bicycles around town. We arrived at a crosswalk that has a sensor for bikes, and when you ride over it, lights on the “Pedestrian Crossing” sign flash, and cars are expected to stop as you bike through. As we approached, the lights flashed, and we started [...]
When I was in college, I rode around on a ten-speed that may as well have been a one-speed. I’d had this bike for years, and never learned how to change gears on it, so whatever gear it had been in when I got it, that was the gear I’d bike around on. One day, [...]
When planting a garden, it is tempting to put in full-sized plants so that your garden is completely filled in as soon as you are done planting. The problem with this is that very soon, your garden will be overcrowded, and you’ll need to divide and thin many of your plants. Dividing is hard work, [...]
