Peter’s in fourth grade now. My third grade boy is gone. Christina has grown an inch since Easter. My size 6 girl is gone. Read more.
My Ever-Changing Family
Our family shrinks and grows. People die. People get born. People get mad and won't talk to you for a while. Kids grow up and find partners of their own, and pretty soon there are brand-new in-laws. And a grandchild or two.
No to Bride Barbie — Yes to a Real-Life Wedding
My 7-year-old wanted nothing to do with her Bride Barbie doll. But twenty-five years later, she’s ready to be a bride for real. Read more.
A Lost Child in Wartime Detroit — A Headscarf Story
I couldn’t see the point of my mother’s skimpy yellow babushka — until the day I found myself a lost child in a cavernous Detroit department store. Read more.
Regulations: Will Trump’s Slash and Trash Deregulation Put Americans at Risk?
Do we really want to dispense with government regulations that prevent disasters — like the Ghost Ship warehouse fire that killed 36? Read more.
Autumn in the Garden, When Sensible Plants Pack It In for the Winter . . . And a Healing Ankle
It was autumn in the garden and all the grim stuff that happens as winter sets in — death, rot, shrivel and retreat — made for a thing of beauty. Read more.
Wisdom From My Father — Or, How to Sweep the Kitchen Floor
“Think about what you are doing,” my father told me. “Use your head.” His advice still applies in a 21st-century world neither of us could have imagined. Read more.
Something Old — Ten Ideas, Old and New, From a Mother of the Bride
As a mother of the bride whose past reaches deep into the 20th century, I’ve got lots of ideas for my daughter’s wedding day “something old.” Read more.