“So are we going to Italy?” Jessica asks. “You said you would think about it.” “I am thinking about it. But it seems like it could be really hard.” “What will be hard about it?” “Well, I don’t speak the language.” “Mom. Sharon went to Italy and she doesn’t speak Italian.” Yes, but she does…
Month: March 2012
On taking care
“You should be careful with your bag,” Jessica says to me. “It’s heavy.” “I will be, sweetie,” I tell her. “And don’t poke yourself with that pen.” “I’ll be careful,” I tell her, tucking the pen in the bag. Not comparing her to a helicopter parent or pointing out that I successfully managed all of…
On Italian translations
“Jessica wants to go to Italy for vacation,” I tell my friend Mary. “Italy?” “I know. Maybe I can talk her into Key West or something.” “You would love Italy. Italians are brusque but friendly.” “Um, okay,” I say. Then: “Oh. You mean like me.” “Exactly. You will fit right in.” “Except I don’t speak…
On facing challenges
I have always been envious of those people who have faced their challenges without exactly seeing them as challenges. You know the ones I mean: their house burns down and the television reporter says, “What are you going to do now?” and instead of bursting into distraught tears, they say, “Well, my goodness, this is…
On what Italy has to do with Disney princesses
To understand how Jessica managed to wrap me around her little finger and convince me that we should travel to Italy, you first have to understand how much she loves Disney World. That began because she loves Disney movies, which begat an unfortunate fascination with Disney princesses (“Sweetie, I’ve just been asked to work on…
On promises no one made
There is a girl at the coffee shop with her mother. She is ten or eleven, and dressed in the way girls her age dress, with flip-flops on (it is a warm afternoon) and pink polish on her toes. She has a thick book under her arm, held casually in the way that makes…