A few days ago, I texted a few friends. One had a new dog, another a new marriage, another a new problem on his plate, all were a little overwhelmed. The responses were varied, with a single thread that tied them all together: thank you. A couple of days later someone reached out to me. Something I’d written struck her and stuck with her, so she responded with a generous encouragement: this is gold. It seemed that in both cases, something cheap became priceless upon its receipt. My texts were sent with intention, but haste, with ten seconds of thought and a few [...]

A friend built a beautiful house, sparing no expense. There were gorgeous fixtures, dark wood floors, sprawling granite countertops and matching subway tile. The basement was large and the bathrooms were many and the bedrooms were spacious. For a few years, everything was great. Maybe a squeaky door or a slightly soggy part of the yard, but nothing big. Until last weak when his garage ceiling dripped. This leak didn’t happen because of age or poor maintenance. It wasn’t an inevitable symptom of a crumbling house. It was a shortcut. The builder had cut a corner, using an incorrect sealer in the [...]

I haven’t been mad at COVID-19 until Monday. I got the call mid-morning, just a few minutes after I had settled in to the single, solitary two-hour window I would have this week. Our oldest didn’t feel well. I sighed, pouted and packed up my work, beginning the parade from one school to the next to the next, the domino effect of that phone call forcing me to pull every last kid from school. Urgent Care saw her quickly, declared her COVID-free and sent us away. Allergies, perhaps, or a late-summer cold. I know, I said. In the midst of the chaos, Rosie [...]

Tonight I made crispy rice, like Dad used to make. I get a taste for it sometimes, a lingering, nagging memory that tugs on my tastebuds until I give in. Then, I hear the way the butter - loads of butter - popped and sizzled in the pan my parents got for their wedding. I remember the way the aging handle felt chalky, worn-down, well-loved. I remember Dad’s patience and my lack of it as the butter turned the bottom of the rice cake yellow, then golden, then golden brown. I remember the way he would overturn the pan onto the plate, [...]

We’ve settled in to the new neighborhood. Not quite the house - that will take time and the unpacking of boxes and swapping furniture and hanging paintings and painting walls. It’ll take a couple of birthday parties and backyard parties and Christmases. It’ll take memories and time. But somehow, the neighborhood feels like home already, like a shirt that comes out of the box already soft and broken-in. With the summer helplessly slipping through our fingers, we’ve been slow to call the kids in for bedtime. We know that too soon the humidity will form snowflakes, the sun will set before dinner [...]

Our neighborhood is getting new roads. For the last several weeks there have been ‘Fresh Oil’ and ‘Detour’ signs blocking portions of the road. The crews have been busy, out with the old, in with the asphalt. This morning, there was increased activity on one of the side streets. There were a half dozen trucks and machines, piles of stone and sand, broken curbs and upended concrete. In the middle of it all, a sign: Construction Ahead. Oh? Construction, you say? I can’t turn down the street because of the heaps of rubble or squeeze my sedan between the mammoth mixer or [...]

The screams from across the park were shrill. With each change of the swing’s direction, my daughters would alternate between cries of delight and fear. We’d stopped at a new park next to a new library on a very hot August morning. The kids hadn’t seen a new park in months and this one was like a found penny, shiny and novel. The swing was even more so, unlike any they’d used, a lounging two-seater with rubber padded chairs that faced each other. It was like a La-Z-Boy that swung till you puked. With each push, Isla and Rosie felt the rush [...]

This has been the summer of sore. With the extra time around the house and the less-than-extra activities available (#corona), we've been spending time doing things that are close to home, free and exhausting. We’ve been playing tennis, tossing the frisbee, taking long walks, riding bikes, wrestling in the front yard and swimming in the pool. I’ve gotten to the point, young-ish though I may be, where I’m realizing the limits of an aging (albeit not ‘aged’ just yet) body. It’s not the exercise as much as it is the recovery that has changed with the years. So, inevitably, the day after [...]

This week I’ve been overrun. Three mice in as many days. The first, brought to me, obediently and with pride, by my fearless hunter-cat, Romeo. Perhaps caught, more likely discovered dead, who knows. The arrival elicited screams from those aged seven to seventy, the apparent disgust with nature in its unadulterated state. Drowning out the cries of alarm with my courage, I immediately rose to the challenge, grabbing a grocery bag, casually flinging said mouse in the bushes. Handled. The following morning, I heard a moan from the basement. I explored through the gray light of the dimly lit stairway. As I [...]

For another 13 days, at the very least, Illinoisans are required to wear a face mask in public places. It’s been a strange adjustment, living in what feels like a dystopian thriller in the most suburban of places. But we’re mostly resilient and fairly compliant and have learned to create masks from just about anything. They are new accessories, a necessity for these times. But this solution bears a new problem. We can’t see each other smile. When I walk into the local coffee shop, I’m trying to give more than just five bucks of a financial lift in the form of [...]