This question landed with a thud as awkward silence slipped into our previously giggly convo.  Book club had been lively, as we all agreed on books we loved as adolescents, each resonating with characters who thought their parents were from another planet.  But prior to my joining book club, each woman had shared “the” book…

I walked into church on Ash Wednesday with my left arm attached low to my little toddler, like normal.  She had her little excited blessing bag skip, but her fast pace stopped short as her head cocked back and she pointed her little finger up.  “Ooh . . . tree,” she said.  The beautiful wooden tree stopped…

Pregnancy was. . . so  many things this go around, but one thing it was for sure was stretching–not just of my tummy, but of my ability to not have control over a situation. (Not an area where I excel).  My due date came and went.  The day after was gray outside and that day…

My first waking thoughts filled with dread.  Today is the day.  After the sweatpants, the food, and the relaxation of Christmas break, today was the day my daughter was back to childcare, and I was back to work.  I had a day’s worth of computer tasks, so I planned to lessen the un-fun-ness by doing…

“Go Evi, Take State.” The black spray-paint letters were scribbled on cardboard held up by electric fence posts.  A high-school track athlete, running late for the bus like always, I slowed my cheap school car and sat in my red and white sleeveless uniform and stared at the signs that dotted our country driveway.  It…

My favorite Christmas toy is a hand-sewn Cabbage Patch Doll.  As a kid, I used to get mad when people called Elizabeth ugly, but even my own daughter looked at her, threw her on the ground, and went to grab a book.  I guess I was holding out hope that my own child might understand,…

I stand next to the appetizers trying to look less awkward than I feel, as if my tiny plate of Chex Mix and roll-ups is some sort of social life preserver.  Finally, a familiar set of eyes meet mine.  Without their normal shine, I wonder what’s left my friend looking so tired.  She confides it’s…

We stop to say hi in the hallway, both of us twenty-weeks along, rounding bellies and smiling faces meet like a mirror, somehow a modern Mary and Elizabeth.  Each time we meet, I’m surprised by how pregnant I am.  It’s terrible, but with this second one, at times I even forget we’re expecting, as I…

You know the roar, the red, the band’s precision. You know the goose-bumping effect of the tunnel walk. Memorial Stadium pulsing in preparation for a Husker game is something–once you’ve experienced it–that you know deeply. If you’re a fan, you know it like it’s a part of you, or maybe you’re somehow a part of…