Some days I write, some days I wait tables and some days I work with preschoolers; all of which I love; but ALL days I am the wife of a Richmond City Firefighter and the mother of two great boys named Beau and Donovan who couldn't be any more different if they tried. In my five seconds of free time I run, ride bikes and try not to watch trashy t.v. I can be reached at suder4@verizon.net
Dearest Winter, We hate you. You have overstayed your visit and you smell like fish. We have done puzzles, played cards, watched movies, built armies of snowmen, sledded countless hills and been in two mad rushes at the supermarket where we all seem to be looking for milk and bread though half of us are […]
I knew parents growing up who wanted to be their kids’ friends. They wanted their children’s approval and they didn’t know how to say “no” because it’s harder to say “no” if you’re on the same level. They sought their kids’ approval more than their kids sought theirs. My parents were not my friends, not […]
Trying to parent your kid while fighting with your ex reminds me of the poem by Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”, but in the fighting version of the poem where the roads diverge, each parent takes a different path as well as one arm of their kid. Then they start pulling. There was no […]
“The self must know stillness before it can discover its true song.” Ralph Brum It’s okay this winter to let your kids get bored. Really really bored. I know in today’s world we think busy is good. We think we need to have our kids on travel soccer and two swim teams. […]
It’s winter and let’s face it most of us are grumpy. There’s not a lot of sunshine; the days get dark before you’ve even come home from work; fevers stuffy noses and dry skin abound; we are depleted of sunshine and fresh air. Grumpy. But you still have a choice. The choice is when you […]
My dad once said he hoped not to live past sixty. He didn’t want to get old and doddering and forget things and put his pants on backwards. He didn’t want to work his wrinkled fingers to the bone because he never had anything like a retirement portfolio and so far his plan on hitting […]
“A boy is the only thing that we can use to make a man”. – Unknown As we head towards December I decided I wouldn’t write a rant about the Christmas elf; mainly because I don’t care about the Christmas elf one way or the other. I won’t talk about how much we spend […]
We wear our busy schedules like a badge of honor; committed to twelve committees, room mother, kids on several soccer teams, participating in after school activities, music classes and cooking. We are at every event and everywhere all at once. We are frantic; we are on the phone; we are in our cars; we check […]
My youngest son is in middle school. I repeat, my son is in middle school; land of sprouting pre-teens, decorated lockers, sudden bursts of hormones, brand new cell phones and embarrassing parents. In preparation for this new adventure we had many a talk about middle school and new starts and how he would be perceived […]
I started college in the year 1989, which was pretty much when dinosaurs still roamed the earth in the context of a teenager’s brain. Kids to day probably couldn’t imagine life as we lived it on the VCU “campus” which was about four blocks from start to finish and where kids wore overalls and […]
