Free Samples

After the best fully prostrate red eye experience we’ve ever had, we arrive in Paris, pile into some vans, and then pile onto a train. When the rental car pickup doesn’t go as planned, we pile onto another train from Strasbourg to the idyllic little town of Colmar. It’s darling.…

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Lot D

In 2018, Nate was six-seven. Some of my readers will appreciate what I did there. Others, it’s too late for you. During the NBA finals, he’s acutely aware of Kevin Durant. But he’s calling him Kevinder Ant. And so begins our obsession with Kevinders. Later that year we watch All…

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Thanksgiving

I’m sitting in a Hampton Inn lobby.  In a little town in Pennsylvania, the morning of my Aunt Rozanne’s celebration of life.  It’s brought back all the memories.  Especially the Thanksgivings at Aunt Rox and Uncle Tom’s. None of us are sure how many times we came for Thanksgiving over…

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The Big Bucks

This morning Jacob says to me, “Oh Mom, I saw the big buck today.” “Which one? The big daddy?” And he’s like, “Yeah, I think we should name him.” “Ooh, good idea. What’re you thinking?” “I was thinking something like Hundo.” “Huh. Wait, what?” “You know, because he’s a buck.…

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October

I usually cry on my birthday. I’m not known for being a big crier– James declared me a robot many times. But after practically three years of almost daily cries, I’ve sure shown you, Jame. And on my last birthday with him, I remember sitting on our bed and crying.…

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Fortunate

Nate claims all of our overseas adventures get better with nostalgia. As in, around day ten they’re ready to sleep in their own beds and stop walking tens of thousands of steps a day. But as soon as I get them home, they long for nNea’s pizza on a balcony,…

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Horizon

Summer’s over and the kids are back. It’s the time of year when Target appears to have been attacked by locusts, and Trader Joe’s feels like trying to get to the bar at a popular nightclub. I recently asked ChattyG to tell me how many people live here. The basic…

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Passed

Growing up, I was the only person in my family of four who was the first born. My mom, my dad, my brother– all the youngest. Say what you will about birth order, it is definitely a thing. Through no fault of their own, they just don’t fully get me.…

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Chopped

One afternoon, as a teenager in the nineteen hundreds, I’m in the kitchen and I open the coffee cup cupboard, which was over the counter. Back when no one questioned upper cabinetry. And I open this cupboard and a turquoise plastic measuring cup comes tumbling out at me and before…

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Darwin

Nate knows all the British football songs and chants. I’m no fan of Liverpool, but I do love me some Darwin Nuñez. And I love to sing his song, even though I only know a couple lines… Darwin, Darwin Nuñez,He came from Benfica to the big Reds,It’s frightening with him…

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