Happy Birthday, Jessica!
For my beautiful daughter —
Thank you for teaching me the meaning of joy.
Similar Posts
On how we wait
Jessica has just come home from her father’s house, and I have already had her lecture on my terrible eating habits (“I made you a menu,” she has informed me. “Why did you eat popcorn and cookies all week?”) and already she has drawn up a new menu full of healthful foods and we have…
On telling stories
You know, I try to give y’all helpful advice for living your creative life. I carefully craft action steps, things to do to help you in your creative work. And? And I get these gentle notes: “Well, it’s fine. Really. Really. It’s just . . . they’re not Jessica stories.” Do you realize how much…
Trying on shoes
I’m shopping for shoes with my daughter Jessica, who is now twenty-six and tall and thin. Sometimes I can’t get over how beautiful she is. I’m not talking about her physical appearance, though of course being her mother I think she’s the fairest in all the land. But what I’m actually talking about is the…
On everyday magic
Last year, Jessica and I were talking about our wishes, because we like to wish upon stars. And every time we do, we have the same three wishes: that she will grow big and strong, that we will always have good work to do, and that we will live happily ever after. That day, she added…
The Vanishing Twin
Sometimes I hear the echo of my son’s laughter. I never bore a son; I should have, but I had a miscarriage. He was a twin to my daughter, and it is a loss no one acknowledged at the time because everyone was focused on trying to save Jessica. I can only grieve it years…
After the diagnosis
In the blog comments on Rethinking what you believe, a writer, Rebecca, says, “With the initial wound of the TSC [tuberous sclerosis complex] diagnosis still fresh for us, I have shied away from examining any belief. Because, frankly, anything I have ever believed about this world now seems a fallacy.” When Jessica was born, I…
