Dear Sam (on your first day of high school), Here we are—fifteen years old, freshman in high school, and learning to drive. It feels exactly right for you to be tackling these milestones, and also a bit startling. To see you in the halls of high school, with boys who are 6’2 and girls who...Continue Reading
Has there ever been a weirder start to a school year? On your first day of high school, you went to bed at 2 a.m. This was after saying goodbye to your big sister—and then driving 900 miles from Nebraska, smashed in the backseat with your brothers. This is a metaphor for your place in...Continue Reading
Dear Nate (on your first day of Middle School)… Yesterday you told me that you needed to get out of the house. We’d been inside for three days, thanks to Hurricane Nicholas and the chaos it brought to our town. You said you needed to “find something more interesting.” So, we went for a walk,...Continue Reading
The other day a memory popped up of you on your first day of Preschool. I was struck by how your first-day grin has not changed. Back then—and on the first day of eighth grade—your smile looks the same: excited, silly, anxious, and grinning like you have a secret. That was twelve years ago and,...Continue Reading
Dear Sam… Whew! Welcome to your last year of Middle School. It’s been such a weird ride… Moving. Trying all the sports. Navigating friendships. COVID! Zoom classes. Quarantine. So much loss, learning, and adjusting. Through it all, I’ve seen you mature a bit more every week. Sometimes more than a bit. Lately, it seems like...Continue Reading
Dear Catie- Wait. Hold on What is happening here? You—my oldest daughter, young woman, sixteen-year-old—are changing right now more than you ever have before. I did not see this coming. You, who has always been so exceptionally sweet and laid-back—and a certified black belt at relating to other people—are becoming something even more. Just when I thought I knew you completely,...Continue Reading
Dear Elisabeth… My dear El, you are a devourer of books. You are a voracious teller and reader of all the stories. For most people, this year—Seventh Grade—is an epic chapter of dramatic proportions in their life stories. It’s the awkwardness of sudden growth spurts (or the lack of those spurts). It’s the hormones and the crushing peer...Continue Reading
Dear El… Thank you for making me laugh every single day. I don’t know where you got this sarcasm from (ha—that’s total sarcasm) but it’s just the best. You may only be 12, but you’re sly wit is way beyond that. Here’s another delight that you might not even know is happening: you’re learning to...Continue Reading
Dear Catie… It’s a little hard to believe you’re starting over again. We moved houses. You moved schools. Sophomore year and you’re having to deal with #freshmanproblems again. It’s a bit scary—for me, at least. There’s so much at risk here. The years of high school feel like stair steps to the grand goal of...Continue Reading
