Ear infections always and only come up after the doctor’s office has closed for the night. Or during a 20-inch snow storm. The child who gets chronic ear infections is inevitably the one who’s also allergic to penicillin. Paperwork is evil. Where children, there noise. If no noise, beware. Just because they don’t react doesn’t…
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The Challenge of Achieving Zen When Your Kids Are Wrestling On The Floor
I spent last week hobnobbing with my fellow liturgical composers…which means I got to geek out about hanging out with people I have looked up to since I was old enough to pay attention to the names in the copyright line at the bottom of the hymnal pages. And yes, I am fully aware that…
Read MoreWhen My Life Is Good, But So Many Others’ Lives…Aren’t.
I dreamed last night that I met Pope Francis. Well, not so much met as happened to be standing right there when he blew by, laughing and carrying, of all things, a part of a broken toilet that needed to be thrown away. I was supposed to be meeting up with a friend from grad…
Read MoreRudolph the Cyclops Reindeer (FF4)
Alex, upon getting into the car at school pickup, holds up this little “found thing”… …and sings, in a low, monotone gravelly voice: “Rudolph the Cyclops reindeer had a very evil eye And if you ever saw it, you would probably-y DIE.” Two days later, Nicholas and Michael are playing Star Wars: Battlefront: Nicholas: “Yeah!…
Read MoreI’ve Forgotten How To Be Still
When I was in the sixth grade, I wore soft contacts that I had to stick in this boiler thingamabob every night. And every night I would open the lid and unscrew the contact case to make sure my contacts were still in there. Not just once. Again and again, until the case got to…
Read MoreWhat I Did This Weekend
I’ve been a figure skating fan since I was 9 years old. I wanted to be a skater more than anything, but it took me a while to realize you could never become a skater if you didn’t, y’know. Take lessons. So I settled into my role as a fan pretty early. In adulthood, though, I…
Read MoreA Message for Young Moms From Someone with A Little More Experience
The day school let out for Christmas, I walked seven kids, ages 5 to 11, about a mile from school to the mall, across nine lanes of traffic on one of the busiest roads in town, so we could ring the Salvation Army bell at JCPenney. And I wasn’t nervous about it. I knew it…
Read MoreMaybe I Don’t Actually Want To Be Color Blind
We went to see “Hidden Figures” last night. Aside from it being a really, really good movie, it underscored something that’s been on my mind a lot the last couple of years. There’s an exchange between Vivian Mitchell, played by Kirsten Dunst, and Dorothy Vaughan, played by Octavia Spencer. Mitchell says something like, “Despite what…
Read MoreKylo Ren Presents the Screaming Flying Monkey (FF3)
To start off the expected Armageddon of ice in mid-Missouri, I give you: Kylo Ren Presents The Screaming Flying Monkey Starring this guy…. …who, in addition to bearing the moniker “Mayhem,” also consistently has the best head gear, to wit: He actually wore this hat to school last week, which reduced his preschool teacher to…
Read MoreNegative Nelly Tries To Turn A New Leaf
It’s one of those days when you don’t feel all that hot and from the time you wake up, the entire world seems to get on your nerves. You’re getting the kids ready for school and there’s the note in a kid’s backpack that starts with the passive aggressive phrase “Just a friendly reminder…”…
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Kathleen M. Basi 