Traveling the World Through Others
As I straightened up the kitchen this morning, I started singing Cat Steven’s Father and Son song. It’s such a beautiful song from a son to his father. Though sad, it’s message is clear: the son has learned much from his father, but he feels his father doesn’t understand him. He feels like his father…
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My son and I have been running nightly for the last week. He’s much faster than I am, so we walk to our starting spot and then he takes off. I jog casually behind him until he is done. After he runs his distance at his own pace, he turns around to meet me and…
Read MoreAs a teacher, I have encountered every kind of parent. There have been helicopter parents, complacent parents, uninvolved parents, lawn mower parents, and I have never really settled on what kind of a parent I am. My son and husband have often said that I am too involved and I need to back off. My…
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Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold, but truly I think it is a metaphor for embracing all flaws and imperfections. Let me explain and simplify with the literal definition of a very complex process of both art and science: Kintsugi is the ancient art of repairing broken pottery…
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Innocence is a topic I teach with literature all of the time. It is built into novels since it is definitely a platform authors love to tackle. Generally, a good piece of fiction will highlight a character’s innocence or naivete, create a situation that destroys it, and then examine how this character picks up the…
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Yesterday was my slow day. As I drove to the my yoga class, the icy roads forced me to slow my roll. I also hit every single light. “Okay,” I said to the Universe. “I get it.” So I used the day to just relax and take it it slowly. I was once told that…
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Yesterday was our annual holiday trip to New York City. I like to take the boys into the city every once and awhile because the fact that they are being raised in the burbs unnerves me. I grew up taking the train and the bus. I was able to use the subway and navigate my…
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One in sixty-five people in the United States have been diagnosed with Autism. It is a disorder that affects language and social skills. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder can have severe language delays. They can miss obvious social cues. They can be unable to forge real relationships with others. They are easily confused in social…
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I didn’t mean to do it. My son wanted to order the butterfly kit, so we could watch them transform from crawling caterpillars to delicate butterflies. I loved this idea. Butterflies are my spirit animal and the thought of being able to rear them to adulthood and watch this beautiful transition thorough life would be…
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My younger son may have autism. He is going to be tested at school as well through a separate organization. I remember the first time I heard someone tell me that they thought my son had autism. It felt like a punch in the stomach and anger arose. It was my brother and we were…
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The Wandering Empath 