When everything and everyone else in the system fails, it’s the educators who pick up the pieces. Every. Single. Time. I grew up in an extended family of educators, public school teachers from 2nd through high school. My niece teaches middle school. My brother and his wife teach at university. My cousins teach elementary school… Continue reading It’s the educators

Perhaps because he was a sickly child, Norman spent his adult years dedicated not only to intellectual pursuits, but also committed to exercise and fitness. And he encouraged these things in his children. In me and in my siblings. He taught us to swim in the ice-cold waters of Livingston Swimming Pool, a community pool… Continue reading A Swell Guy

They might be ticked that I referred to them as old women, but salty, of that bit they would approve. Last weekend, my family attended a much-delayed celebration of life for Steve’s Aunt Joan, his mother’s (Mary’s) sister. Joan was very much a bonus grandmother to my kids, present at most every holiday and a… Continue reading Pedicures, beach sand, and salty old women

My mother was born on June 6, 1922, nearly 100 years ago, to parents who immigrated as children from Canada and into a world not really so different and yet entirely foreign to ours today. She was less than 3 pounds at birth, and the doctors didn’t believe my grandmother was even pregnant when she… Continue reading As it happens…

Sandwiched inconspicuously between anxiety, fear, worry, sadness and relief live proud moments and the intense joy of parenting. Those moments erase the memory of the struggle. We’ve all experienced these at different times with our children. Since the very moment she became a big sister, Natalie has aspired to be a teacher, never waivering in… Continue reading Meet Miss Wiley