Solo Mother

The King of Everything’s school nurse paid him the highest compliment this week: “He’s the most honest kid I’ve ever met.” And it’s true. I don’t know if it’s just his crazy moral fibre, the same sense of justice, right and wrong that causes him to cringe and shut off Labyrinth every time Sarah wishes her baby brother into the arms of the Goblin King… or maybe it’s because he doesnt’ get into nearly as much trouble as he would if he didn’t come clean with me as soon as possible. Maybe it’s because we don’t use corporal punishment (oh, …read more

5 Comments

I know what day it is. Believe me. I know. I have so many tears in my throat I can’t get them out. I’m thinking about our scared nation, seven years later, and the mess our media and the powers that be have made of the War on Terror. I’m also thinking about the people who lost their lives in those first, insane days after September 11, 2001, because their skin was dark or their hair was covered. Innocent people crushed under the fear and ignorance and hatred that still cripples us today.
As a parent, I try to teach my …read more

1 Comment

I’m packing up, consolidating my house and my heart for yet another iteration of self in this transformation from married woman to single mother; sifting through what to keep, what to sell, what to give away. I remember the faces of each of the women who came to my rented, crumbling home in those first weeks with pots and pans, towels, books for the kid and books for me, a cup of coffee, a glass of wine. I remember them all, and remember what they gave to me in those first, frightening days.

8 Comments