When I chose a boy and a girl guinea pig, I thought a litter or two would be interesting for my daughter. I didn’t yet know about the extreme reproductive technologies of rodents. Having learned about them, I’m especially relieved to be a female human. Doing what rodents do best, round one, produced three replicas [...]
I knew graduation was supposed to be a life event for my daughter—the graduate—but I hadn’t reckoned on it being a life event for me: me—the woman old enough to have a daughter graduating from college; my home—the default place to be; my picture of the world—oh it still might appear on the agenda occasionally [...]
Yes, this is the astonishing thing—or is it one of those “astonishing things” that is perfectly apparent and mundane? Perhaps the amount one considers family members in daily life is in inverse proportion to the amount of family one regularly sees.
The start of the year seemed like a good time to revisit Blessings. What’s important? Who’s important? All the big questions sneak up on us this time of year.
It doesn’t happen in a moment, but leaving home is one big jump forward. From my side it’s a recalibration of time, place and manner. On her side, it’s a whole new world. Remember your parents—stage dressing. I spent the summer in retail therapy for the strains of departure—laptops and Ipods and plugs and clocks and phones and cords. I remember I faced motherhood with a similar electronics buy-a-thon.
For most of us who sign up, Motherhood is the biggest, most wonderful, most frustrating and demanding job we ever do. It is exceptional and ordinary, divine and accursed. And you never look at your mother the same way after you’ve gone there. I’m pretty sure it’s way bigger than I yet know.