Just one cool story of many When I was pregnant with my firstborn, I wanted to name her a few different things. But my favorite name was Elizabeth. It meant the same as my birth mom’s name. It also was cleverly versatile. You could cut it into so many nicknames: Elle, Ellie, Eliza, Liz, Lizzy,…
The Grape Ape The little ones around here are noise makers. All day long, they sing and jabber about anything that sounds interesting, “Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you!” They’ll turn anything into a song, “So-and-so looks like an ape, he ate a grape, so he’s a grape…
Pictures matter, but living authentically builds the real core memories. Most of my childhood photos are missing. I believe I have less than five of them. It’s kind of a bummer, considering that I was a cute, albeit annoying kid. So, now as an adult, I really value pictures of my own children. Thankfully, there…
Following God, Finding Balance Though none go with me, I still will follow… In “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by C. S. Lewis, there’s a scene where Lucy realizes that she was supposed to have followed the lion Aslan alone into the forest. He had not expected her to wait for her siblings…
Birth Father The memories I have of my birth father before I grew up could be easily counted using fewer fingers than I have. He was around until I was 6, when he moved away and only called twice that I know of. Somehow, though I have several scattered memories with the rest of my…
One day, when I was 11 years old, Mami and I were heading out to Manhattan. We were planning to visit Delancey Street, browse through May’s Department Store on 14th Street, and maybe visit a cuchifrito for some delicious fried treats. It was our usual Saturday routine, and she purposely skimped on some of the week’s groceries in…