Paradigm shift
Recently I found myself perplexed over the complicated challenges of parenting a strong-willed teenager while not seeing eye-to-eye with the other half of my team on how to do so. The details are not important, but my frustration, worry, hurt and near-despair was both deep and palpable. I am very much a choose-your-battle kind of [...]
I knew it was coming; I just didn’t expect it would hurt.
Well, I’m understanding Sharlee’s fabulous essay (the title essay in Segullah’s latest, Dance With Them) a little more now. I got the first “you’re standing too close” attitude from my teenager today. I had been braced for it—really, I swear!—but it still blindsided me somehow. He explained that though he enjoys my coming to his [...]
Our mothers knew it
Today’s guest post is from my darling eighteen year-old son, Ben. He offered to write a post last Spring, and with the craziness of girls’ camp in my life this week, it seemed like the perfect time to cash in the favor. I’ve left it largely unedited; I love reading the fresh, raw opinions of [...]
What happens when my ADD of housecleaning spreads to writing
What you almost got from me today: How we come to terms with our own not-enoughness. What it feels like to be a Republican deep in the heart of Utah County fearlessly campaigning for a Democrat in the upcoming election. Funny things I observe or overhear while serving in my new calling in the Primary. [...]
Turning My Kids’ World Upside Down
So, we’re moving. If you’d have told me a year ago I’d be saying such a thing, I would have looked at you like your head was on backwards. But a lot can happen in a year (e.g. reversals, epiphanies, startling answers to prayer, not to mention a good long stare into the eyes of [...]
Teenage Dating–An Oxymoron?
Those of you who have teens and subscribe to the New Era know that this month’s issue is devoted entirely to teenage dating. When I handed the magazine to my eighteen-year-old son, he rolled his eyes and said, “Teenage dating—now that’s an oxymoron.” First, I was impressed that he used the word “oxymoron.” Then, I [...]
My Old Pigeonhole
I started out as “the smart one” in my family. My little sister had waist-length golden hair which automatically made her “the pretty one”. Eventually, though, she got a bad perm, had crooked teeth grown in and started getting much better grades, so she became “the smart one” and I, an extremely bratty teenager, became [...]
To Sleep. Perchance.
I just settled into my office chair to write this blog post. It is 10:52 p.m. I realize that I need to get up by 6:45 to get my oldest son off to Jr. High, but with an out-of-town husband and a long day of kid-shuttling, laundry-folding, assignment-grading, journal-editing and potty-training (yes, I started down [...]
Young Love
Tomorrow my husband and I celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary, a milestone that makes me feel both proud (still goin’ strong!) and old. We celebrated an anniversary last year that made me feel even older, though: in November of 2008, we’d been “together” for 20 years, which freaked me out a little because, in my [...]








