The point of processing

The point of processing

Two big things are happening in life right now, the kids are leaving childhood and I'm actively preparing to launch a second career. And my writing has been a tool to process both of those changes, to chart the landscape at the unknown edges of my map.

A late summer rain

A late summer rain

They'll choose, and are choosing, their own path as adults. But we chose their childhoods, in the same way every parent does.

Wrapping things up

Wrapping things up

On these late summer days, as blackening red drupes weigh down the chokecherry boughs and the pears hang like pendants on the neighbor's tree, everything ripening and suspended, it feels like a holding year. Waiting for next thing to start, but knowing we won't get there till we finish this first.

It's not the same, so now what? (an anniversary post, part 2)

It's not the same, so now what? (an anniversary post, part 2)

This is the kind of marriage I celebrate on our 23rd anniversary. One that grows and changes. Where a life is built, and children are raised, dreams are cast and pursued, and sometimes abandoned.

It's not the same, so now what? (an anniversary post, part 1)

It's not the same, so now what? (an anniversary post, part 1)

Hopeful energy, inspired by dreaming about our future, that was in short supply for those post-crisis years in our marriage. Even though realizing previous dreams had cracked open our marriage and brought about significant pain in our relationship, I missed having them.

Learning all the time, mid-life transitions, and outdoor-living in Vermont

Learning all the time, mid-life transitions, and outdoor-living in Vermont

This is an interview where we're challenged to ask questions about the status quo - in society, in schooling, and our own lives. We're shown the courage of stepping into new opportunities and adventures, by necessity, and encouraged to trust in our ability to learn what we need to know, when we need to know it.

As we finish homeschooling 3 kids through high school

As we finish homeschooling 3 kids through high school

I don't have the same sparkly idealism. (It's fun! It's easy!) What I have instead is years of experience that have confirmed what was once just theory - it's possible to do something different with education and to build the kind of relationships I envisioned for family life.