life

Reality Check

When the universe reminds you what really matters The subject line of the email read: FIRE INTERRUPTION Because I knew that the sender—the proprietor of a book marketing co-op I belong to—resides in Southwestern Canada, I instantly thought, Oh shit. Indeed, she was alerting her subscribers to a pause in programming. She and her familyContinueContinue reading “Reality Check”

Wife vs. Mother-in-Law

You can rewrite the story (Trigger warning. This one gets a bit emotional towards the end.) The envelope, as I recall, was lavender. The card inside a flowery, glitter-encrusted thing, Happy Mother’s Day written in flamboyant script. She’d presented all three of us daughters-in-law with similar cards. The awkward thing was, two of us were childless. “DoContinueContinue reading “Wife vs. Mother-in-Law”

Truth and Consequences

Or: An optimist, a pessimist, and a realist walk into a bar “We should open a bakery,” my sister said. We were enjoying some decadent creation, say a vanilla bean cupcake beneath a cloud of her amazing fresh strawberry buttercream, at some family event. Her daughter’s birthday, maybe. Though it could have been any randomContinueContinue reading “Truth and Consequences”