Action Reaction

The Boys

Sam wrecked our Tahoe Friday night. He had six of his friends in the car, and they were coming home from a high school football game in a neighboring town. Thirty-one days ago, he totaled his own car. Both accidents were his fault. Receiving that late night phone call is heart-stopping. The first questions, of […]

For Reals

Mary Claire

My 13-year-old daughter has a vernacular all her own. She “feels all the feels” and validates her experiences because they’re “for reals.” She punctuates her sentences with acronyms and wild hand gestures and dramatic facial expressions. When she trips on the sidewalk, she asks, “How do you walk?” That particular phrasing carries over into everything […]

What Brene Taught Me

Katrina and Brene Brown

I had the honor of meeting the smart, sassy, and gracious Brene Brown last week. If you don’t know who she is, go ahead and spend a few minutes watching her first stunning Ted talk. I’ve spent the weekend trying to sum up my experience, but it’s still bigger than I am at the moment. […]

A Sonata For My Friends

Katrina and Her Friends

Friends have been on my mind lately. Not specific friends, but the notion of friendship. The idea of it. I’ve been reading numerous articles about friendship over the past couple of weeks; specifically, female friendships. It’s given me pause, made me think, caused me to reflect. I’ve been blessed — beyond blessed — to have […]

Giving Thanks

Gus Holding a Heart-Shaped Rock

I cannot deny that these past two years have been hard. Soul-crushing, fetal-position hard at times. Let me begin by saying this, by owning this: I know that if I threw my problems into a pile with all the other problems of the world, I’d grab mine back as quickly as I could. I know […]

Vulnerable

Lucy Sleeping on the Pillow

Craziness abounds over here. Dogs are sleeping on Chris’s pillow, kids are staying up past their bedtimes, guinea pigs are being fed human food, wine is being consumed by the vat. (Okay, that last one’s not really crazy. In fact, that’s pretty normal.) Oh! And my memoir, “Table for Six: The Extraordinary Tales of an […]