When I found out my second child would be a little girl, I panicked. I may be a woman, but I only had experience parenting a son.
Month: March 2017
To Endure Is to Reap
Something happens the first day that you begin teaching. A connection materializes between your heart and those of your students.
But what about the ones who hate you? What about the ones who hate each other? What about the ones who make your instruction difficult?
Proposing Motherhood
“Well, open it.”
I looked from my boyfriend to my parents. Frankly, I felt framed.
It was Christmas 2007. I wasn’t ready to be married. But there my boyfriend sat expectantly. I had just unwrapped a cherry jewelry box.
No, really, I don’t want to look inside. Please don’t make me look inside.
“Okay,” I resigned. I feigned a smile with the understanding that – if a ring was inside – I would have a choice to make. A public choice. An immediate choice. A forced choice.
The writing on the wall, however, had been revealed to me approximately nine months prior – during my first international service trip.
Nicaragua. Orphans. And a promise to give up sweets for Lent. Continue reading “Proposing Motherhood”
A Veteran’s Lesson in Courage
Excited to share my first guest post! Thank you to Grinia at Mirror & Soul for the opportunity and to all the veteran students who have made me a better teacher, mother, and learner.
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“A Veteran’s Lesson in Courage”
I could tell he was nervous. There is this dance of eye contact aversion that my quietest students have perfected. But I teach at the college level – composition, to be exact – and public speaking is a rite of passage.
In full disclosure, I had been anticipating this moment for over 24 hours. The student, a veteran in his mid-20s, had a story to tell.
We’ve forgotten how to use our hands
My father’s hands were always calloused – filthy from the day’s work. His meal ticket wasn’t a college degree but back-breaking labor. In all of my life, I have never seen anyone work harder.
Which is why he readily accepts projects during visits to our home. This past December he removed rotten wood and adhesive from our front steps and completely replaced our laundry room flooring. In the process, he ruined a well-used long-sleeved T-shirt with Virginia Tech, my alma mater, written across it.
My father’s four-year plan ended prematurely, and he didn’t finish college.
Feeding Young Minds
Baking brings me joy. But last night’s mission involved a deeper purpose.
I wanted to reward those students who make it to our last class meeting before spring break.
I already know what you’re thinking. What college professor makes baked goods for their students?
Advice for the Tree Hugger
“I don’t know.”
It’s a response I get often from college students when I inquire about their goals for the future. They frequently come to me frustrated by the taste of adulthood that freshman year offers.
Decisions – the ones that we know really count – can paralyze us.
Why You’ll Become That Parent
You know, the parent who annoys you before you have children…or before you have as many kids as they do. In your eyes, they get it all wrong.
How could they do that?
Why don’t they just do this?
I’ll never…
For myself, I can chase personal guilt back to an observation of “failed” discipline at a nice restaurant early in my first pregnancy. The scene was Silicon Valley, and the parents were older (a cultural norm in the Bay Area). They have no control, I remember thinking to myself. Their unwillingness to face the little giant in the high chair really got under my skin. Before you have children, you can really believe you have all the answers.
But if you are a parent long enough, a realization will stop you in your tracks. In my case, I had to accept an uncomfortable reality: my kids are their own people. They won’t always behave at dinner – no matter how much money or effort you expend.
And, in due time, I did that thing I said I never would.
I learned to let little things go.
