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Ramblings of a Melancholy Mama

“They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot.”

Joni Mitchell

My six-year-old niece overheard me telling her mom that I was feeling a bit melancholy. “Well, Auntie Karen, we don’t have any melons in our garden, but we are growing cauliflower. You could have […]

Expectations

“The best things in life are unexpected – because there were no expectations.”

Eli Khamarov

When I drop Pip off at Daisytree pre-school two mornings a week, it provides Fig and I with a two-hour chunk of one-on-one time. During the week-long Spring Break, Fig demonstrated a few negative, […]

Singing

“I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.”

William James

When I was a teenager, I was really interested in the performing arts. I loved music. I wrote songs, I played guitar, I acted in plays, I danced, but I did not have a very powerful singing […]

Sneaking Out the Back Door

“Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”

Kahlil Gibran

Over the last month, it seems as though Fig has become more attached to me than usual. She’s sleeping through the night now and I’m down to only two breast-feeds […]

Sensitivity

“The moment you say ‘I know everything’ is the end of your growth.”

Sharon Lee

“Pip, you need to put some clothes on,” is a phrase I find myself uttering, not just in the morning, but several times a day. My daughter simply […]

Pesca-what?

“We all love animals. Why do we call some ‘pets’ and others ‘dinner?’”

k.d. lang

I’m a pescatarian, which is basically a vegetarian who eats seafood. Ever since I was a child, I was bothered by the sight of meat on my plate, but I couldn’t articulate my feelings. I […]

Feminine Fun

“A three-year-old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm.”

Bill Vaughn

When Fig is too quiet, it usually means trouble. I was in Pip’s bedroom, assisting with her fifteenth costume-change […]

The Sleepover

“In the final analysis it is not what you do for your children but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.” — Ann Landers

Pip wanted to play with her cousin last week and I explained that she was having a sleep-over at Grandma […]

Space

“Language… has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.”

Paul Johannes Tillich, The Eternal Now

Pip and I were snuggling together in bed one morning while Big-Daddy-O and Fig were getting a […]

Lucky Button

“We hippos love our belly-b’s, they’re round and cute and funny, and there’s a place we take them to when summer days are sunny.”

Sandra Boynton

Pip has always adored her belly-button. It’s an impressive, round ‘outey,’ and she rubs it to soothe herself. It came as no surprise, therefore, when […]