Kauffman Stadium Open House Originally uploaded by smysnbrg At 2:30 on Saturday afternoon, Christian and Alex left for a Kansas City Royals game. (Baseball, the quintessential boys’ date.) Left at home with two little ones, I had plans of my own. They involved novel revision at naptime and a whole lotta scrapbooking—in front of…
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Top Ten Things I Love About My Children
…with some help from Christian, who took over at #6. Top ten things I love about my kids (#230-239 of my 1000 Gifts): The way, when I say, “I’m gonna get you!”, they run toward me. How I can tickle Alex without even touching him. Playing “cry/hug” with Julianna (I cry, she hugs; repeat—this game…
Read MoreCome Away With Me
For the first time in our five years as parents, we left the kids with my parents and took a weekend away. We flew to Tampa on Friday for a wedding, and after a bit of a rough start, we felt our way back into coupledom. Bonnie was passing by on its eastbound, spill-cleanup-disrupting run,…
Read MoreBecause of a Virus
Because of a faceless, anonymous jerk somewhere out in the e-universe, our computer caught a virus this week. Because of a computer virus, my husband had to take our computer in to work, where the gurus could do their magic. Because my husband took the computer to work, I had no access to my files.…
Read MoreMoments of awe
Two weeks ago, I was doing market research on Parents.com, looking for writer’s guidelines for personal essays, and stumbled upon their cover model contest. On a lark, I entered Julianna, thinking, We need beautiful kids with special needs in the spotlight. One week ago, I got an email from Parents nudging me to…
Read MoreHappy Birthday, Grandma
She was born on June 13, 1915, to a farm family in the Missouri River bottoms near Glasgow, Missouri. Along with her twin brother, she entered a family that to this day remains one of those families. You know, the families that make towns and parish communities run. She grew up a farm girl, married…
Read MoreMultitudes
Saturday night there was a doozy of a storm north of us. “Kate, come here!” Christian said urgently, about 10:20p.m., and I came running. Above us, the sky was a sleepy steel gray, but miles away the sky flashed white at such a rate that the low rumble of distant thunder kept a constant growl.…
Read MoreBy Flowing Waters
There’s just something about running water. It’s one of the most familiar images the world—a symbol of bounty and peace. It’s Biblical, yes, but it’s also ingrained in human nature—this sense of being bound to the streams for our very lives. Whenever you turn on one of those programs of calming music, it’s inevitably paired…
Read MoreOrdinary Gratitude
The problem with keeping a gratitude list is that I tend to notice the same things all the time. But gratitude is an attitude that needs cultivating…at least for me. And the times when it’s hardest to keep a positive outlook are the times I most need the spiritual exercise: when kids are sick, and…
Read MoreThanksgiving Day: A Gratitude List
For the last two weeks, I’ve kept waiting for things to turn around, scrabbling at the roots of positive attitude as I try to keep from tumbling over the cliff into negativity. It’s been a rough two weeks, no doubt about it, but I realize that the lesson to be learned now is gratitude despite…
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Kathleen M. Basi 