Bad Love

Pride, In The Name Of Love

June 29, 2011

Once upon a time, before I had children, I expected that when I did have children, they would be smart children, and that they would excel in everything that they did, and that this is what I would want for them – to be excellent – and this is what would make me happy, as [...]

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A History Of Looking; Or, Why I Post Pictures Of My Children On The Internet

June 3, 2011

A couple of years ago, I received a very sweet e-mail from a self-professed ‘dedicated lurker’ who asked the following question: I wonder if you are ever concerned that your daughter’s (beautiful) image will remain in cyberspace, with no mechanism for you — or her — to reclaim it or her privacy? She meant no [...]

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This One Goes Out To The Mom I Love

May 29, 2011

Happy birthday, Mom. You are, and always have been, and always will be, the best mom ever, the mom whose momness I will always aspire to emulate, the mom who taught me how to laugh, who taught me how to love, the only mom, my mom, you. Love you.

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They Say It’s His Birthday

May 18, 2011

It’s Jasper birthday today. He’s three. Don’t tell him that, though. Me, this morning: “Is it your birthday today, Jasper? Happy birthday!” Jasper: “No, Mommy, not my birthday. YOUR birthday.” He’s close: my birthday is just a couple of days away. Still, you’d think that the child would be kinda pleased about having a birthday. [...]

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Stories I’ve Only Told My Mom

May 6, 2011

I think that Mother’s Day is as good a time as any to break out the heavy emotional artillery, don’t you? I can’t say that I regret having had an abortion, but I also can’t say that I don’t. It’s complicated. Its complicatedness sometimes hurts my heart. Which is precisely why people talk about the [...]

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All That Is Solid Melts Into Air

May 5, 2011

I should know by now that when my sister posts on my Facebook wall, it’s a bad sign, because my sister – bless her – believes that Facebook is the best way to reach me when there’s something urgent to communicate. That she could also reach me by phone or email – I’ll grant that [...]

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Sacrifice And The Mom

April 27, 2011

At the closing keynote session at the Mom 2.0 Summit the other week they showed a promotional clip for Oprah’s new network. In it, Oprah made a few remarks about why she never had children. “I realized that I didn’t want to make the sacrifice,” she said, “and motherhood is about sacrifice.” Ugh, I thought. [...]

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You’ve Got Mail!

April 21, 2011

Emilia likes to make cards. She has a basket filled with stickers and glue and ribbon and glitter and discarded Hallmark product and she draws upon the contents of that basket frequently to craft fancifully illustrated and elaborately decorated cartes de voeux for every occasion, including but not limited to birthdays, holidays, dinnertime, bedtime, breakfast [...]

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The Beauty Of Heartbreak

April 15, 2011

A few weeks ago at SXSW in Austin, Texas, the lovely Karen Walrond sat me down and asked me a few questions about heartbreak. Not about the sad and the terrible and the woe-is-me of heartbreak, but about the beauty of heartbreak. And it was a wonderful and, I think, important conversation, because there is [...]

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In Defense Of The Selfish Parent

March 22, 2011

“Parenting is the most selfless institution in the world.” The words jumped out at me from the screen. Most selfless? In the world? I sipped my coffee and considered the ethical calculation that would rank me as more selfless than, say, Mother Teresa. Maybe, I thought. I can see that. Mother Teresa, after all, never [...]

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