thought
For years, I checked my son’s grades as if they held a hidden message about my parenting.A missing assignment meant I should have been paying closer attention. A bad grade meant I needed to step in. If he wanted to wear sweatpants again, I pushed for jeans because, apparently, denim…
As I carried my tiny granddaughter down the stairs, a thought flashed through my mind that I never would have had 30 years ago.What if I drop her?I clutched her tight, shooed the horrifying thought out of my mind, and continued down the stairs into the kitchen to warm up…
When I was expecting my first baby, I spent untold hours trying to decorate her nursery.Every time I sat down at the computer to pick out furniture and decor, I’d start strong: I’d find a crib I liked, then try to match it to a wallpaper that seemed to have…
When I got a job with a nice signing bonus, I didn’t think twice before hiring movers. After all, I finally had adult furniture.In retrospect, that was a huge mistake.My move from Denver to NYC was a $5,000 cross-country crash course on how a full-service move can be far too…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dima Beseda, cofounder of Spiry. It has been edited for length and clarity.I was only 3 when my dad brought our first computer into the house, but it changed my life. At a very young age, I realized that video games…
My 78-year-old dad has had a 15-year love affair with Paris. Every summer like clockwork, he and my stepmom escape their New England home and make their annual pilgrimage to the French capital.Even though my older sister and I have done our fair share of our own adventures, we had…
I love immersing myself in new cultures and customs. I had to settle for reading about them in books as a child, but as soon as I got into college, I started traveling the world. I didn’t think I’d ever stay anywhere for long, but as soon as our kids…
The drive-thru line at Chick-fil-A stretched around the block, packed with oversized SUVs at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday. Engines idled.No one honked. No one seemed in a hurry. It was one of my first glimpses of life in Wichita, and it felt like a different world.I had just finished…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sia and Mikael Lilja, who moved from Sweden to Japan, where they bought and are restoring an old house. It’s been edited for length and clarity.We’ve been together for 12 years and married for the last 4.In 2020, we bought a…
I got married in April of 2000 after living with my now-ex-husband for several years. At the time, I made a good living from my job in advertising, and like many of my colleagues, I’d been doing freelance work on the side for years.In 2001, my husband and I became…
