Pushing on a Rope
Family
She’s There. We’re Here. Get Used to it.
Lots of folks are checking in on us these last few days, wanting to know how the transition to “empty nest” is going. It’s too soon yet to have a good answer. At the moment, it’s surreal. I’m glad we have a long weekend to start to process it all because it will surely be … Continue reading
Life as We Knew It
Well, the big day is here. This morning, we deliver Catherine and the 3,000 things she had to have to Hofstra University. Everyone else is sleeping. I’ve been up since 4:45, head pounding from clenching my teeth all night, trying my darndest to program “stoic” in to my emotional framework for the day — if … Continue reading
No Shoe Loose Here
It’s fascinating to see how Catherine’s mind works and where her priorities lie. For all our similarities she remains very much her own person. Case in point: Most of the summer, she’s turned a deaf ear to my, er, suggestions that perhaps some laundry and early packing efforts are in order as dorm move-in day nears. So … Continue reading
Flashback Friday — Tanks for the Memories
Flashback 16 years to 1998. This was the scene outside our house: After months of searching for a place we liked and could afford on combined journalist’s and postal supervisor’s salaries, after crunching numbers, saying goodbye to eating out and other luxuries, we were ready to move into our first house. Catherine was almost 3, … Continue reading
Flashback Friday — Otherwise Engaged
Flashback 21 years, many permanent waves and one unfortunate choice of eyeglass frames to February 1993. These pictures were a surprise — taken by John, a former co-worker of Basil’s who is also the brother of Ann, one of the women I played in the Port Chester High School band with. I met Ann at the … Continue reading
Zombie Apocalypse , College Parent Edition
Overnight, I was elected to a new society of parents I didn’t realize existed. If there is a special name for us, I’m not yet privy to it, yet I can pick out others of our ilk at just a glance. We are the exhausted, beleaguered, at-the-end-of-our ropes parents of incoming college freshmen, and like gazelles … Continue reading
(Dorm) shopping til we drop
It’s starting to look a little like Christmas — or something — around here. Slowly but surely each available nook and cranny is being crammed with stuff for Catherine’s move to the dorm. Throw pillows, cleaning supplies, bathroom flip-flops and hamper behind the chair in the den. Extra kitchen gear, the health and beauty stuff … Continue reading
Flashback Friday — Sand and Surf
Flashback 12 years, to August 2003, when Catherine was 6 and we introduced her to Cape Cod. It’s a rare photo of all three of us, taken by a kind stranger on the beach at Chatham Light. Catherine also posed here earlier that day with a book so that in September she could show her … Continue reading
Flashback Friday — This Place is a Zoo
They won’t be lazy, hazy days this year, but finally it’s summer. Why not flash back to simpler times, like this 2000 trip to the Bronx Zoo. Still new homeowners, and having replaced the roof and windows and repaved the driveway, we opted then (as we seem to with increasing frequency now) for a Staycation. … Continue reading
Pushing on a Rope 