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Another First Day

  I give you a hard time about growing up. Time feels like it speeds by some days, while other days the time crawls like the snails out back on my basil plants. First days like today- first day of high school, first day of eighth grade, first day of middle...

Big Bessie Loses Her Bolts

With yet another typhoon on the horizon this week, I know you are missing our Big Bessie Green the Trampoline stories (If not, please click away now…you’ve been warned). I even had several friends email me to check on her when the last typhoon blew through...

Bloodletting

When my students struggle to find writing topics, I often ask them to think about their scars. We start with the obvious- those raised patches of taut white skin that betray the age of the skin around them. The room that was blank stares and tapping pencils erupts in...

A Week (or So) With the Weems: May

Cora Jo had one last sleepover with one of her best friends who will be moving this week. I learned later that Cora had given her favorite dolphin necklace to her friend as a token of their friendship. Watching my kids make and grieve friends is one of the most...

Connecting the Dots

When my family visited Okinawa last summer, our housekeeper Michiko-San (who comes by to restore order once every two weeks) asked where my family lived in the states. When we told her they were from Arizona, Michiko-San got excited and said her school-friend lived in...