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It’s my last evening in Antananarivo and I’m feeling like a tortoise that found a skateboard; how lucky to have been here for a second time this year. I listen to live and lively piano music in the pavilion of La Varangue, sip my Cristal (sparkling water) and realize I can’t feel the temperature, whichContinue reading “Foreigner in a Friendly Land: Lemurs and Little Kids in Madagascar”

There’s nothing like feeling a wave of nausea to focus the mind on meeting the moment. Specifically, where can I vomit most discreetly at this moment, I wondered, because there’s no time to spare. And, secondly, she’s a mom, this person in front of me— she’ll understand. She has had at least five children, soContinue reading “World’s Okayest Moms”

Tatum has been waiting to turn 18–freedom!—since she was still playing with dolls. I remember the last day she played with dolls: it was a Friday afternoon in early September 2018. She was in sixth grade. That was the day we learned that middle schoolers in Maryland are way too busy to play, unless it’sContinue reading “She is 17 Going on 18: Or, a Sparkly Nun Moves to Florida and Buys Shampoo”

How lucky am I? One minute I’m sitting on my balcony overlooking the antique car collection in the Alsace room of boutique hotel La Varangue, watching a tiny, bright orange bird dart close and away again; and the next I’m being serenaded by a classroom of Malagasy four-year-olds who are alternately shy, exuberant and dazed.Continue reading “Le Merveilleux Madagascar”

Author’s note: I drafted this on January first on the train from Brighton back to London and I’m posting it more than a month later…from Madagascar, which will definitely be a highlight of 2025! Tatum Coming home from Stuart Hall; Costa Rica; Deep Creek for the Fourth of July week; Leah’s birthday party; meeting Aiden;Continue reading “Highlights of 2024”

Happy new year, world! I was listening to The Moth Radio Hour yesterday and the first story, amazingly, happened to be told by His Majesty the King’s Royal Raven Master, who lives at the Tower of London where we visited just about two weeks ago. He told a story about his first day on theContinue reading “Brighton’s Colors”

It’s pitch black in the closet and there are five people—myself and four strangers—squeezed into a tiny closet that’s from the outside. It’s my nightmare as a later-in-life sufferer of claustrophobia. It’s made worse by the fact that if someone coughs, the dogs and king’s guards searching aggressively in the other side will find usContinue reading “Immersing Ourselves in London Life”

It’s amazing to see a 9-year-old who’s taller than you by a mile, as Lloyd now is. Okay, he might actually be 17 now, but in my mind’s eye, he’s still a fourth grader who makes fantastic structures given a box of magna-tiles. The highlights of our Kraków visit were many but chief among themContinue reading “Shawarmas and Champagne in Kraków”

Mrs. Tomlinson. Mrs. Hathway. That’s how we usually started our conversations. It’s funny for best friends to be so formal, but that’s what amused us. That was Josie and me, always looking for a way to keep it fun. We’re going to ride around the neighborhood on our bikes after dinner, smoking cigarettes and laughing,Continue reading “Talking with Josie”

We’re back already and it’s only Saturday morning. Teenagers have places to go and people to meet and privacy to protect, so we didn’t stay in Deep Creek very long but it was a full two days. Mostly full of mashed potatoes and pie: pumpkin, coconut, lemon meringue, apple, peanut butter, Oreo, and pecan chocolate.Continue reading “Feeling Thank Full”