Their convenience was not more important than my needs.

It’s weird, simultaneously entering middle age and parenting adolescents. I’m working hard to try to view both as a time of re-creation - of learning new ways and adjusting to new realities.

There are a lot of cobwebs in their lives - corners that have been left untouched for a long time, but new challenges shine some light on the messy parts of life that they maybe wanted to pretend didn’t exist.

These days, I’m trying to learn how to wait and see if the movement happens without all the storm and stress.

The hardest thing in my life isn’t the ever-present fear or the extra work. It’s the complexity that is invisible.

I spend a lot of time comparing myself to people who are doing these same things, but much better than I am.

I’m sure at the end of it all, they’ll come back and show me how I should have been doing it differently all along. And they’ll be right.

In our family, we believe helping kids learn how to make good decisions is our number one priority. And most of learning to make good decisions is making bad decisions.

There are rough things, for sure – the aforementioned layoffs, and divorces, and bad diagnoses – but far more often, we see friendliness and fun, beautiful outdoor spaces and smiles even on the cloudiest of days.

When I end up empty, I keep going, pushing myself, but everything that was good and positive takes on a harder edge.

Nothing makes time seem to flow faster than when my children have experiences that I fully remember having myself.

The only problem is that we still have kids living in this house. They are both the reason for and the greatest obstacle to organizing.

I’m enough of a student of history to know that there was no one perfect time in our history where everyone came together and created a new and beautiful world. People are people.

It’s like eating skittles when my body needs a meal. I don’t feel hungry anymore - in fact, I feel amazing! — but my body is still undernourished.

I feel as though I am no longer simply grieving people I’ve lost, but the time that has not lived up to what I once believed it would be.

Please know how truly thankful I am for all of you and that from our family to yours, have a cozy Christmas and a joyful New Year.

Most people around here put up lights, and more than a few go, well, they go overboard. There’s a part of it that feels so futile.

No one wants to have to sleep on the floor of an airport or on a bench in a train station or an overcrowded hotel room, but I believe that everyone should at least once.