Kuana’ike (koo-AH-nah-EE-kay) = perspective. Sometimes a change in environment helps us gain a little perspective and appreciation for our lives. We recently took a trip to Hawaii thanks to years of saving up frequent flyer miles and having relatives who live there with a spare bedroom. Our 50th state is a mix of cultures, much more of […]
My son starts his very first summer job tomorrow. He’ll be doing light maintenance and clean-up at our local beach and park. And he is psyched because it means he’ll be earning his very own money. I remember my very first summer job and that same feeling of exhilaration. Someone valued what few skills I […]
Yesterday, my kids were dancing through the house singing a song called Bananaphone. It’s a little ditty that is one part “The Name Game,” and another part puns with nonsensical lyrics that would make Dr. Seuss proud. Released years ago by Raffi, beloved children’s entertainer from recent decades, the song is still a big hit with elementary […]
My daughter and I were in Target last weekend browsing the cosmetics when we came across a dress… hanging off a shelf of mascara and eye shadow. Now what is that about? Someone had decided she didn’t want the dress and just left it there, not six feet away from its proper display. I lifted […]
Yesterday for my birthday, my family baked me a cake. From scratch. And hand-decorated it, too, with those tiny silver cake decorating tips that I loved watching my Mom use to make edible works of art when I was a little girl. The cake was so beautiful, I didn’t want to eat it. But then […]
The other morning, my husband purchased a new computer and got it set up in our office before the kids got home from school. The moment our son walked through the door that afternoon, he said “You got a new computer!” He hadn’t yet stepped into our office and couldn’t see it, and all the […]
On the ninth day after my son got his learner’s permit, we took a drive down the street to the post office with him behind the wheel. He pulled into a narrow parking space that terminated in a large concrete wall. As he inched closer and closer to the wall, I gripped my arm rest tighter […]
My son was born at 2:07 a.m. on a Monday morning after a routine, full-term pregnancy. As a nervous, exhausted new Mom, I let the nurses take him for his first feeding. A couple of hours later, they wheeled him into my room in a neonatal incubator. His lips had turned blue when the nurses fed him, […]
I have two teenagers whom I love more than life. I’m really blessed because they are truly great kids. I’d like to think that we have done a good job parenting them and helping them become the good people they are, and some of that parenting involves praising them and providing positive reinforcement. So when […]
My 15-year-old son was up until 1:30 a.m. last night. Again. On a school night. And he wasn’t partying or chatting with friends on Facebook. He was doing homework. As parents of school-aged children, we’ve all been there: the long-term science project that is due tomorrow (that your daughter just started tonight), the sadistic teacher who assigns […]