Archive for December 2008

  Published in Bay State Parent Magazine Winner of The American Cancer Society Sword of Hope Award Read the BayState Parent Blog Entry Cancer is devastating for anyone to face. But for women in their childbearing years, the impact of cancer can spread beyond the individual. Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy treatments may cure cancer, but contribute to inability to conceive. Couples without children are left with compromised fertility. Couples with children continue to parent their children while facing an unknown future. And for ..read more

I woke up feeling miserable this morning. I’ve been nursing a bad cold the last few days, and didn’t sleep well. After getting all the kids out the door with winter coats, hats and mittens, I looked at the outdoor thermometer. Eleven degrees. I checked weather.com, and the “feels like” temp was minus 6 degrees, with bone-chilling winds whipping from the Northwest at 15 mph. I decided to go running. Call me crazy (and many people do), but I think running in ..read more

Winner of the New England Press Association (NEPA) Award Category: Human Interest Published in Bay State Parent Magazine On a warm summer night three years ago, Susan Noble was enjoying a special evening with some friends at a baby shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Susan and Kens’ first child. As each gift was opened and passed around, the women oohed and aahed, especially at the adorable little overalls and sports-studded outfits. Ken and Susan knew their baby was a boy. ..read more

Published in baystate Parent Magazine and Memphis Parent “Hey Mom! Can you help me with my math?” “Mommy! Caleb’s eating the cat food again!” “Mom! The toilet’s overflowing!” “Mama mama mama!” A cacophony of chaos, all directed at me in a space of a few minutes. Just multiply those minutes by hours, add in a thousand interruptions, subtract non-life-threatening disasters, divide by stolen bathroom breaks, and then raise it all exponentially to the power of four kids ranging in ages from 15 months ..read more

Andrew’s Helpful Hands Touch Families of Children with Cancer Winner of the New England Press Association (NEPA) Award Category: Human Interest Published in Bay State Parent Magazine Imagine that your two-year old is showing alarming symptoms of diarrhea and lethargy. Imagine your shock when he is diagnosed with leukemia so advanced, he must be admitted to the hospital immediately. Your life as you knew it stops and you are thrust into a world of medical terminology, treatment, and trauma. You want to do everything you can to help ..read more

It’s a bitter cold December night. John drives to the party in silence while Elisabeth and I chat about a multitude of mundane things.  We turn off the main street onto a snaking, narrow road and pull in behind a string of cars leading up to the house.  The walkway to the house is longer than my own street, neatly lined every twelve inches with flickering tin containers designed to look like hand-cut, snowflake-laden bags, lighting the way to ..read more

Published in baystateparent Magazine Spring has barely sprung, and already the brochures have begun piling up in my mailbox: baseball summer camp, Cub Scout camp, phonics camp, soccer camp, camp for the gifted, camp for the musically inclined, camp for kids who don’t like camp… and the list goes on and on. Even my son’s preschool offers a summer program, for tots with unproductive time on their chubby little hands. Sure to follow on the heels of the glossy mailings will be ..read more

Discovering Colonial History Through Play at Old Sturbridge Village Published in Bay State Parent Magazine “Let’s Play Ball!” Though you may have recently heard it at your child’s little league game, those familiar words have actually been ringing down through the centuries.  In fact, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in 1824, “…there is nothing now heard of in our leisure hours but ball, ball, ball…” At Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, there’s lots of “ball, ball, ball”… being played this summer, not only for ..read more

 “I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”   2 Timothy 4:7 Sometimes, just when you least expect it, you meet someone who changes the way you see life. You can’t plan it. It just happens. It happened to me the past October, at the Newport Breakers Marathon in Newport, RI.   I choose the marathon for lots of reasons:  It was a relatively small field of runners, the course covered many scenic landmarks, including downtown Newport, ..read more

The storm that had blown for days quickly intensified through the night. The Mayflower, an ill-suited ship for such adverse conditions, creaked and groaned amidst the westerly gales and eight-foot seas. Dorothy barely noticed the terror in her fellow passenger’s cries. Her mind – her heart- was 2,500 nautical miles to the East, where she had left her baby John, her precious only son of just three years, and boarded this God-forsaken boat against every ounce of her will. “The Lord deliver ..read more