The spring after my #3 child started scouts, he ranked up for the first time. When I arrived that night, one of the troop leaders handed me a green sash. “This is for you,” he said. “What’s this for?” I asked. “He’s going to give you something,” the leader said. My response was, “O…kay…” A…
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Claiming Space
I spent the first 8 days of June preparing our family for a trip to Disney World, days 8-18 IN Disney World, days 19-26 unpacking, reorganizing, and shopping to keep our family fed in two different locations while I was in a third; and days 26-+1 presenting/playing at convention. Since I returned, I have been…
Read MoreStream of Consciousness
I’m writing this on a Thursday night (though it won’t post until morning), sitting on my deck by myself on a lovely evening in May. If any of you have ever had four kids, three of them teenagers, you know what my May is like. Currently we have soccer, baseball, horseback, color guard, drumline auditions,…
Read MoreWhat my kids think is an “emergency”
Those who know me, know I am an anachronism: I do not use a smart phone. I don’t like them. I recognize their value, but I hate texting, I hate typing on a flat screen, I don’t like being that available, and most especially, I like being able to go places where I CAN’T be…
Read MoreThe Celiac Report, Week 2.5
We’ve been doing the celiac thing now for 2.5 weeks, and I have a few initial experiences to share: Gluten free ≠ celiac gluten free. I keep hearing, “This is the time to be gluten free. There are so many options there didn’t used to be.” This is all true, but nonetheless it’s a big…
Read More#boymom, illustrated
Illustration 1: THE SHIRT. Meet “The Shirt.” AKA “The Apple Festival t-shirt,” AKA “the Captain Applesauce t-shirt,” AKA “my summer uniform.” (My son’s title for it.) For about 4-6 years in his early life, my oldest insisted on wearing the same Superman shirt almost every day. My middle boy never did that, but my youngest…
Read Morethe thick of it
One of my mantras over the past sixteen years of motherhood has been “This is the season of life I am in right now.” It’s a simple mantra—a recognition that what I’m experiencing is not permanent. (As an aside: sixteen years? How did that happen?) When things started to reopen this spring, I felt suffocated…
Read MoreWhen Mom Ain’t Happy…
Yesterday, a friend and I helped organize donations for our local Refugee & Immigration Services. The lovely young woman who was giving us directions gestured at a group of stuff on the floor and said, “And if you have time, you could try to inventory those… um…” “Car seats?” my friend and I said, laughing.…
Read MoreRethinking Priorities
It is time to choose next year’s classes for my three middle- and high-schoolers. Going through this process this year made me realize how much the upheaval of the last year has actually benefited me as a parent–strengthened and sensitized me, reshaped and reordered my priorities. I was a straight-A student, and as such, parenthood…
Read MoreCarpool Karaoke, Elementary School Style
The scene: the after-school carpool, yesterday. The characters: A second grade girl and a third grade boy who are totally inseparable, except when they’re screaming at each other. Today they’re not screaming, so they’re inseparable. Oh yes, and me. All of us masked, because COVID. Girl: “Ooh, Mrs. Basi, you CAN play Story of My…
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Kathleen M. Basi 