Rerooting

One thing I learned early in my writing career was to record my thoughts immediately after an event - anything that could be deemed post-worthy. This is especially true for emotional subjects. Once the moment is passed, it no longer tugs. So, last week I wrote this post after my friends, Brad and Cindy came to visit. Here's an excerpt:

"Here’s the scenario: As a young family you buy a home in a vibrant community, raise a few children and nurture enduring friendships. One by one, the children empty the nest. You find the once-perfect home and community no longer meets your needs. The empty rooms, the maintenance of keeping a large house and gardens, the increasingly far proximity to those fledglings that flew the nest, and a new sense of freedom that makes for a restlessness that builds until it gives way to a wanderlust that takes hold.

This happened to two of my favorite people. We raised our babies together, discussed our kid’s schooling, commiserated about teenage angst, had endless conversations about the interconnected lives of the members of our community, and then we watched our respective children (all five of them) fly away from the nest. Then...my friends flew the coop. They sold the family home, left their friends tearfully behind, and set off on a new adult-sized adventure. Eventually, they rerooted in a new community and a new home."

Have you or anyone in your life rerooted? CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Artwork: Bradley Clark

Reading With Kids Makes Them Smarter

Books are like passports that open up new worlds for children. There is little debating the fact that, children who are read to at home have a higher success rate at school. Reading to young children promotes language acquisition, literacy development and achievement in reading comprehension, and overall success in school. For young children (ages 3-5), being read aloud to daily by a family member is one of the indicators of success. A recent GOOD article via this Salon article questioned whether just having lots of books in a house makes a difference in children's performance in school. CLICK HERE FOR MORE

The Home Ice Advantage: Make An Eco-Skating Rink

I am convinced that there are certain experiences from your childhood that define whether you like winter or not. I am a lover of everything winter. I can thank my hockey player dad for that. For my brother and I, winter had its own culture with unique customs and rituals that included a backyard ice skating rink. The first snowfall of the season, my dad would unveil his latest collection of sleds, skates and skis that he had gathered at tag sales. In the garage he would fix up his finds for all the neighborhood kids. His goal was to get all the kids on the block to love winter. Then he would haul out four long wooden two by fours and a plastic liner and water our backyard to make a skating rink. If we lived in a higher elevation, I am sure he would have created a ski slope and a rope tow to tower over the rink. As it was, it was quite unusual in my New York suburban neighborhood to have an ice rink in the backyard.

Some of my favorite memories are of my dad all bundled up very late in the evening hosing down our backyard ice rink like he was watering prized roses. I remember Dad was overly eager to get up early in the morning after a snowfall to shovel the rink. Then he would set off to the more important task of clearing the driveway. For the kids, our reward was all the afterschool exercise we could get and unlimited hot chocolate.

Those fond memories are laced with embarrassing ones too. Some not so cherished teenage moments. Don't most embarrassing things happen to teenagers? I was mortified when I found out my dad would greet my male friends at the front door with a ruler to measure the size of my friend's feet for skates. Then he would rummage through the skate box and with skates and hockey sticks in hand, I would have to catch him before he would wisk the the poor boy into the backyard to "see what the kid was made of" (whether he could skate or not).

I have long since gotten over those embarrassing moments. For years, we recreated all that wintery fun in my backyard with my kids.

DIY ECO-FRIENDLY ICE RINK - CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS