Am I first a wife, a mother, or a writer? Like most “either/or” questions, the answer is “yes.” I do not accept that being a mother must take something away from being a wife. Nor do I believe that writing must be done at the expense of my family obligations. Throughout the ages, people have…
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Unwrapping the Gift of a Day Off
Michelle at Graceful is my guru this Lent. First, she gently prodded me to reconsider my use of the internet. Then, she echoed how I felt in doing so. And then encouraged me in the struggle. She inspired me to be careful of the way I present my faith, reminding me that living it is…
Read MoreBreaking the Addiction, Day 7
When various blog-friends began talking about an internet fast for Lent, my first reaction was, Whoa! That is a *great* Lenten penance! In every word they wrote, I recognized myself, but I felt sure that I couldn’t do it myself. After all, the reason I began blogging was to develop a “platform” (if you’re not…
Read MoreHow do you do it all?
It happens to me quite regularly. I’ll be talking to someone and she (it’s almost always a she) shakes her head and says, “I don’t know how you do it all.” I always shrug, thinking, I don’t think I want to think about it. But as I canvassed the aisles at Aldi this weekend, murmuring…
Read MoreListening…
Saturday afternoon, we arrived home to a relatively clean house, a stack of mail, and seven voice mails. The very first one was from Sr. Mary Ann, my grandfather’s sister and the woman who taught me to play checkers on that same vacation in 1980 that I shared pictures of a few days ago. She…
Read MoreLife: a Crock Pot Recipe
I want a crock pot recipe for life. One that tells me exactly what amount of time I need to devote, in what order, to which activities, in order to achieve the ideal balance of flavors to make life delicious. A recipe would tell me how to get Nicholas on a schedule despite the EIGHTY…
Read MoreSelfish=good?
Recently, I read a blogger whose point was that moms are not just moms, they’re also people—and how sometimes, they need to be selfish. I find these kinds of posts difficult. It’s true that a mother needs to be able to express herself as a woman—and more basic than that, as a person. The same…
Read MoreGrandma, you rock!
Every afternoon, while I’m putting the kids in bed, my brain works furiously so that when I get downstairs, I’m ready to dive right into writing. Often, prolactin kicks in while nursing, and I think longingly of the comfy couch. But I always grit my teeth and push through my sleepiness, knowing that nap time…
Read MoreI have a new hero
I have a new hero: John Lithgow. He is an inspiration to a creative jack-of-all-trades. Until recently, I knew John Lithgow for two things: Third Rock from the Sun and Harry and the Hendersons. But a while back, we discovered “The Remarkable Farkle McBride,” which is a truly great children’s book—a tour of the orchestra…
Read MoreA Day Off
Today is my birthday. I am 35. Tomorrow, I’ll have things to say on the subject of birthdays (probably), but I’ve decided that today, I am giving myself a birthday gift: a Day Off. I haven’t just taken a day off writing in I don’t know how long. I push, push, push and push more, trying…
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Kathleen M. Basi 