August 24, 2025

The Legacy of Matthew Foley

Over the Fourth of July holiday, we hosted our cousins from Cincinnati. Casting about for things to do, I offered to take them to an exhibit at the Soldier’s Memorial Military Museum in downtown St. Louis. Even though I am a proud St. Louisan, born and raised, I had never been to the memorial before. The closest I came was driving past it on the way to the St. Louis Public Library. Teachers at work had taken students to a Ghost Army exhibit there, we wrote about the field trip for a newsletter, and I was intrigued. Honestly, I was also a little surprised: I had thought the memorial was just a memorial; I had no clue there was a museum inside.

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November 16, 2017

The best of both of us

Tonight was one of those nights where I am reminded once again that my darling child consists of a combination of genes from both me and her father. It’s freaky when that happens.

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November 7, 2017

Owl Surgery

Zoe called me in to tuck her into bed last night, and when I walked in I found her frozen and staring down at the sheets. Normally this means she’s discovered a spider or some other bug, or she’s just barfed, or something equally disgusting has just taken place. I steeled myself and asked, “What’s going on?”

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November 3, 2017

It’s not heavy. It’s my backpack.

Yesterday morning, in an effort to help my child who is still struggling with a Halloween hangover, I loaded her laptop and power cord into her backpack and went to move it to the door. I actually grunted when I picked up her pack. The thing has some heft. It’s all Vera Bradley bright flowers and quilted softness, but it’s stuffed to the gills with paper and tech. Then I remembered that she had band today and needed to haul her clarinet in, too. Out of curiosity, I toted everything back to my bathroom and set it all on the scale. Her load clocked in at 26 pounds.

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February 16, 2017

Watch out. She’s writing again.

I finally, for the first time in well over a month, have time and space to write. It feels amazing. And yet, I sit here and struggle to think of some topic worthy of committing to paper. Or screen, rather.

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January 1, 2017

Goodbye, 2016. Hello, 2017.

On the face of it, 2016 stunk it up, and so many of us are happy to see it go. 2016 brought a torrent of cultural and political pain from which the country is still reeling. On a personal level, it wasn’t exactly a banner year, either. As I reflected on the past year over the past week, I found myself scowling and angry, and frightened for what’s to come.

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May 26, 2016

Thursdays

Thursdays have been my Monday lately. Thursdays used to be my Saturday, but for the past month-plus, they are definitely Mondays.

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