The MotherVerse Blog: mothering out loud

 After about a week and a half home, my son drove back to Los Angeles with a couple of friends. As a last minute development, my daughter went with them. Once she arrives, she’s staying for a week, then flying up to Portland for a week, then home.  They left during the snowstorm on New […]

     We’re in the middle of a heavily predicted snowstorm. The forecast was for the storm to hit at midnight and we saw the first flakes at about 11:30. Since then, about 5 ½ inches have fallen and the sky is still filled with tiny snowflakes like dust coming down. The forecast, which has been […]

My first child was almost three and not transitioning all that well into independence. He had days when he was miserable all day long and my efforts to cheer him, to bring him back to equilibrium, were at best momentary fixes. He was unhappy and I felt at a loss to explain why.
 
There were symptoms […]

 
It’s officially the shopping season and I haven’t bought one present yet. To fully confess, I’ve barely even started to think about it. For now, I’m going to post this love poem, finish stacking the firewood and make some soup. By then it will be early afternoon and the sun will be starting to set.  […]

            My oldest has always been good at grabbing attention. I’m more the inconspicuous type. All I ever wanted was to enter the library and exit the library without the checkout clerks prompting my five year old into long conversations that would have them just cracking up laughing. I’d stand by, not really seeing him […]

         My ten year old son, Austen, is hitting the drum downstairs, a steady pound interspersed with bursts of quick, more intricate beats. He’s half-singing, half-chanting something about bunny ears and Transylvania. We’re leaving to meet some friends for trick-or-treating in about half an hour but he’s already in costume and make-up. This year he’s […]

Spooky Zoo Sunday at the Roger Williams Park Zoo
 
Snow White’s crying in front of two
zebras who stand sleek as not caring
Mr. Incredible’s buff as a plush bulldog
Superman’s three feet tall
GI Joe stands in fatigues soft enough
to sleep in, watches the pumpkin being carved
Witches are handing out yo-yos
The place is crazy with princesses
their cotton candy gowns, […]

       She asks me to tell you she’s wonderful. This seventeen year old was my grief baby, born just a year after her newborn brother died. What are the metaphysics of two souls coming together as mother and daughter? What kind of bravery steered her to my terrified womb, my bleeding arms? I’ve always perceived […]

Had some trouble writing this week; an injured back among other things. Then felt horribly unable to write straight. Journal poem follows.
 
Writers block, if I could stack one into several and even
          unpainted they would tower
Chain sawed my back, sore pile we stacked
          into shape of me, left on the couch
Uncleaned the house, progress of […]

My husband and I were sitting among a group of parents while kids, ages 2 to 16, buzzed in the park around us. We were there for a homeschool get together our support group calls games day. The adults pass the time sharing food and talking, walking around the track, reading, knitting or working on […]