You know how you take the weekends and you cram them full of stuff, expecting to accomplish a ton, only to end the weekend in frustration because virtually nothing got done? This should have been one of those weekends…but it wasn’t. There was Beauty and the Beast on our friends’ front lawn, with popcorn and a…
Read MoreAll articles filed in the gratitude list
Fall Elements
Fall Elements Originally uploaded by One-Speed Photography I didn’t want to come out today. I knew I was not going to find a truly quiet place, and I have so many works in progress that I really begrudged the time. At the very least I ought to be folding clothes so that’s not hanging over…
Read MoreThe Endless Project Completed
We began the process sometime in the spring, hopping from one furniture store to the next, discussing paint colors and styles, trying to convert the last room on our main floor from its ugly, monochrome taupe. On Memorial Day, we ordered furniture. Later that week, we settled on colors, moved the junk from around the…
Read MoreTop 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 More
Kathleen M. Basi 