Saturday, May 5th, was International Day of the Midwife. In my city, it was celebrated by a special screening of a documentary by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein called The Business of Being Born. This film is a few years old (2007), but I had not heard of it until Daily Buzz Moms did a…
Tag: life
Who would you have been when the Titanic sank?
Last night at about 2:30 a.m., the wreck of the Titanic turned 100 years old. There were four of us talking about it in our kitchen yesterday evening, and again this morning – about how there were boats travelling to that very spot in the Atlantic Ocean, to commemorate the centennial… and about what an…
Happy Birthday and Happy 10 Years to my Hubbibi
Yesterday, my beloved Hubbibi turned 35. (He doesn’t look it, though. They only recently stopped carding him at the liquor store, so I think I can safely say he’s 35 years young. Right, honey?) That means we’ve been together for 10 whole years. On his 25th birthday, we were a very new couple, living in…
Encouraging the love between boys
Imagine a 12-year-old boy with a chip on his shoulder. He moves from an inner-city school in a large metropolis to a well-to-do urban school in a much smaller city. He has been moved, for the most part, because his mom doesn’t have a clue how to control or improve his behaviour. The administration at…
Snapshots from Homecoming Weekend, a.k.a. “Glad to be Old”
It’s Homecoming weekend. No wonder there were so many students all garbed-out at the same time: boys with warpaint on their faces, girls with gaudy t-shirts offsetting their way-too-short shorts. There’s a big house party on a busy street. The music can be heard blocks away. A gaggle of students crowds the front porch, surrounded…
How to put a serious damper on someone’s morning
If you really want to take the wind out of an innocent person’s sails first thing in the morning, tell them about your stillborn baby. That does the trick. Yesterday was the first day of school, and I was lucky enough to have an easy and anonymous day in the kindergarten wing, where none of…
The Summer of My Initiation
It’s almost time to go back to school. Being in the school building this past week, I could feel reality setting in. It’s time to get my act together. Before I get completely immersed in that (so to speak), there are a few more things I need to officially process. I think all summers are…
Notes on the Mid-Pregnancy Ultrasound
Last Wednesday, we had our 20-week ultrasonic anatomy scan of Baby #2! Over the years, I’ve worn my share of medical/hospital gowns, but this one took the cake. The WORST GOWN EVER. Tissue paper poncho that’s only shoulder-width, so you have to try to hold onto the edges to keep from flashing your whole bottom…
Happy New Year
Hello, dear friends. There’s been a lot of talk recently of how people are really hoping 2011 is a lot better than 2010. There seem to have been an inordinate number of hard knocks this year amongst the people I know and love – too many falls, car accidents, chronic pains, malignant growths, financial troubles,…
Tribute to a Friend
You were not one to mince words. Your laugh was contagious. You had the coolest back tattoo ever. You knew how to give a good, solid hug. I can still picture you with the mohawk you had fifteen years ago. I was afraid of you as a kid – you were all metal studs and…