What I Want to Be This Year
The other night, after a long day with the girls, I took a walk around our land. Halfway through, on a hillside near where we want to build our home, I stretched across the grass in my down coat and
Who’s Immortal Now?
My husband and I silently sat in our wooden booth, waiting for our breakfast to arrive. It was only 10 o’clock, but we’d been awake for five hours and were still trying to process what the neurosurgeon had said. Though my husband’s
Dancing in the Mine Fields
I sat on the porch step with the phone to my ear and stared out at the yard. I didn’t say anything for a moment, because I wasn’t sure how to respond. For weeks, we’d hoped that stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) could
The Story’s in the Growth
This week, I went for my daily walk and saw my husband had pulled a chair over to our creek. It moved me to picture my better half, of almost nine years, sitting there and being still. With my three-month-old
He’s in the Waiting
In June, my husband was due for a scan, but not feeling any urgency, we pushed it off until mid-July. He had an MRI done here in town, and the scans were snail-mailed to his neurosurgeon at Mayo Clinic. Then
My Favorite Day
I don’t even remember how it began. "My favorite day" was just one of those adorable, grammatically incorrect sayings a child utters and her parents cannot soon forget. Since then, I have tried to get my daughters to keep an eye
The Truth About “Happily Ever After”
Barely 9 p.m. and my husband and I were sprawled across the bed as if we’d been shot. “I don’t even know what day it is,” he said. “It’s Satur—" I paused. "No, wait . . . it’s Friday.” “I’ll just be glad
Turn Around & They’re Grown
Seven years ago, my husband and I went out to Wisconsin for a wedding. During the rehearsal dinner, we sat across from one of his relatives, who had three children under five. The man’s eyes were bloodshot, and two of
#Nesting
“Mooom!” my five-year-old cried. “We are trying to go to sleep!” “I’m almost done.” My husband said, “Do you really need to do that right now?” “Yes,” I replied. “If I go into labor tonight, I want to know the carpet's vacuumed.” My husband
Babymoon or Bust
I really wanted to go camping for our last-minute babymoon. I planned on packing a blow-up mattress and rolling around in the tent like a walrus until I got comfortable, but then the weather channel showed rain and a high