Happy Birthday, Jessica!
For my beautiful daughter —
Thank you for teaching me the meaning of joy.
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A Halloween Story
It is the time of year when spiders crawl all over my bookshelves. Black spiders, purple ones, pink ones, some with googly eyes, and some with “on” switches that make them glow. “On Halloween, I will dress up like a vampire to hand out candy,” Jessica says, adjusting a madly glittering spider so that it’s…
On the last days of summer
_________________________________ It is a beautiful late-summer Saturday, warm enough for sandals and T-shirts but not too hot. The sky is blue with fat clouds that look as if they were painted on a china plate. Jessica and I are running errands, and she is scheduled to go bowling with a parks-and-recreation group in forty minutes,…
On visiting the zoo
We are at the zoo on a late fall afternoon. The weather is cool but pleasant. We’re sitting at an outdoor table near the exit and I am trying to convince Jessica that it’s time to go. She disagrees. Jessica has been in charge of the itinerary for this trip, so we have ridden the…
Carnations for Jessica
So. Wow. I wrote “For Jessica” as a way to describe to friends what is happening with my daughter and how I’m feeling about it, since it’s very hard for me to talk about it. Then I shared the link on Twitter and Facebook. Of the few hundred people to whom I’m linked by…
On the rules we live by
So I’m trying to explain astral projection to Jessica, who is possibly the world’s most literal person, which makes this task somewhat more difficult than it may sound, and we end up discussing my spiritual beliefs which are, um, eclectic. I don’t believe in astral projection, although I’m pretty sure I’ve experienced it, and I…
On most-wanted lists
Jess and I are going to see Muppets: Most Wanted, and she wants to know what “most wanted” means. Me: If the police know you’ve done something criminal, but they don’t know where to find you, they might put you on the most-wanted list. Then if you’re spotted, the police will arrest you. Jessica: Well,…