I drove my little self over to the neighborhood elementary school today and wrote Drew’s name down on a sheet of paper. The paper said, “I want my boy to be in Kindergarten here,” but with a lot more words, and then with the Spanish translation of the words. I wrote his name down approximately…   read more

The following post is part of a guest blog for my dear friend Sarah at allmannerofinspiration.com. She is kicking off a fantastic series for Creative-types to help inspire, challenge, and inform the creative process no matter what your creative outlet may be. And for you actor/singer types, you know there’s one part of the process…   read more

As I look ahead to 2013, or, to the remaining 361 days of it, I’m a little nervous. This is the first year in a long time where I haven’t been expecting a baby or planning a big vacation, a move, or a coup d’etat. Sure, there might be a show or two, there might…   read more

There was a time when I thought nicknames were limited to “Honey,” “Darlin’” (no g, ever), and “Sugar.” Those were the ones I heard my grandparents use the most, and it was sort of lovely to be lumped in with all the other Darlin’s in the family — that no matter who you were, you…   read more

(Chatter Letter from the Editor, October) When my family showed up to the IBC parking lot 25 years ago in our long brown station wagon, I don’t think we could have imagined what awaited us. I was six, and had just left half a piece of Juicy Fruit gum under the pulled-up corner of carpet…   read more

When you read this, I will be in Italy. It sounds so strange to say, “I will be in Italy” because I’ve never said “I will be on the moon” before and yet, they both feel like the same thing. My in-laws (God love-em) are keeping Both Things for the 10 days we are gone,…   read more

On Monday, the staff of the church where I work took a “family movie day” at Hollywood Theater down the street. Drew has only had one movie-going experience (“Cars 2”) which was only a success because we found our seats so early that all the lights were on and the cleaning crew was still sweeping…   read more

Drew has started implementing safety standards for his own obedience. If he is about to spill his milk, again, on purpose, and he knows it — he can feel the drumbeat of compulsion rushing through his veins — he hands me his glass and says, “Here, Mommy, I gonna spill dis.” Even if it has…   read more

I have been living a double life. For a week, I have left my children in the care of others in order to stab bobby pins through curls of hair, one after another, creating an auburn hat of monkey bread, and sucking the configuration up into a tight black wig cap. After this, a lady…   read more

Today we passed a police car and Drew informed me he would “yike” to drive it one day. I explained he would have to become a police officer first, and he paused for a moment before replying, “Yes, I will be that.” Police Officer is about the 39th profession Drew has agreed to adopt in…   read more