Parenting
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An Author’s Journey Part I
I’ve listened to many authors speak of their writing journey. Not one of them said they published their first novel in two or three years. They all told a story of how their first novel took them five to ten years from the birth of an idea to publication. I listened and then decided I’d be different. No way was it going to take me so long to get my first novel published. I was wrong. Those of you who have been following me on Facebook and this blog know that I’ve been working on a middle grade fantasy called MYSTIC. My mantra for the past three years has been, “Yep, I’m still…
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This Sucks!
I called my friend yesterday in a panic. “What should I do? What would you do? Arielle called and she’s sick. She went to the clinic twice, received antibiotics and IV fluids. I should hop on a plane–right?” My friend knows me well. “What does Eric think?” “Oh Eric, well he thinks we should tell her to go see a doctor. But she needs me. You would go–right? I know you would go.” My friend is my children’s Godmother. I’m not catholic but it’s my way of saying you’re their second mother. If anything should happen to me, it’s all on you. She’s known Arielle since she was three and…
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The Hardest Part of Parenting is Understanding Your Children are not Yours
The hardest part of parenting has been understanding that my children are individuals, separate from me. As much as I want to control their behavior and who they are and what they do–I can’t. Kai began teaching me this lesson early on. His humor, his temper tantrums, his speaking exactly what was on his mind, refusing to eat healthy foods or wear a jacket– I found shocking. I wanted to control him, make him eat the broccoli because then I’d be a good mom. But from the age of three he let me know it wasn’t going to happen. I could try but I’d have a huge, unnecessary battle on…
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Why the University of Illinois?
I have had several people ask me why Arielle went to the University of Illinois. Wouldn’t I rather have her close? Of course! USF, Florida State, or the University of Florida would’ve been nice. We toured all their beautiful campuses. But none of those universities have a wheelchair track and field team. The University of Illinois is the most accessible college in the United States and now has twelve Track and Field athletes competing in the Paralympic Games in London. Arielle made the decision to leave her home state and all her friends to pursue wheelchair track. It was a difficult decision. Illinois is far from Florida and gets very cold in the winter! We are very…
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College Move-in Day!
I’m not really here. I’m on a blog vacation until September… So much has happened in the last seven days that I just had to share some photos. The University of Illinois is an amazing place! Eric and I wondered why we never chose to have the college after high school experience. What were we thinking? Kai decided he was going to skip high school and head right to college. Arielle was excited, overwhelmed, and ready for her new journey. It began with a packed van. We thought our minivan days were over. We we wrong. An organized mom would have thought to put all those bags in one big plastic bin. Not me. By the way,…
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Embarrassing Pictures with Buddy
In my mind I had it all sorted out perfectly. Arielle and I were going to make beautiful Jason Mraz concert tees. The extra one would be for Buddy. I’d put it on him and take a photo of Buddy sitting under a tree at sunset showing off his Peace, Love, Mraz shirt. Yeah right! I should have gotten the clue that everything was not going to work out as planned when it took us several days to make the tee-shirts that were supposed to be easy. I have dyed my hands, shower, tub, and sinks bright blue and pink. Gloves? I don’t need any stinkin’ gloves to dye tee-shirts. A plastic spoon will work fine. Give me the…
