Taking leaps

I love this photo so much. It's difficult sometimes to take a step back and see, really see, how much he is growing. I can tell by the pants, which seem to shrink on him in one week, one little trip through the wash. I can see it in his face when he sleeps, the outlines of the man he will grow into. I can feel it in his gangly legs and the quick kisses where he used to linger and cuddle and curl into me. But then I see a photo of him as a baby and think, "He was so tiny and he's so big now!" and then see him alongside older kids and think, "He's so tiny still!" It's hard to know. I'm his mama, so my vision is blurred.

There on the sidewalk while we walk, side by side, I see how he is stretching. And then he took this jump, what seemed like a huge leap but was really not that far at all, and he was taller than I am, even in heels. 

It will come too soon, I am sure. I see what's ahead in these shadows. Clearer than in the mirror or face-to-face.

Click to read more ...

Put down the Doritos and read this

I've written many, many health posts over the years and it all began with one little post about how a seemingly endless Ayurvedic cleanse was making me unbearably crabby and in need of one -- JUST ONE! -- real cracker. That post got me a gig at AOL's That's Fit, which led to a weekly feature, which led to an editorial position at another site and so on and so on. Subsisting on ghee and plain tea for more than a month did more than unlock my organs toxins, it created a new career path for me. Today, I eat crackers. But I also am still writing lots about women feeling better in their own bodies. 

I am thrilled to be contributing to a cause-related site over at MSN called TakePart.com. They produce beautiful magazine-style issues centered on topics we all care about at heart but don't see enough of on our screens. Here's what I've been working on for TakePart lately. Won't you raise your raw, unprocessed, gluten-free, vegan fake cracker as a toast and read some of my posts at TakePart?

10 Myths of therapy - I've written many times about my fear that my therapist will set sail on a Meditteranean cruise and never return, leaving me sitting on the leather couch in her office twice a month by myself with a box of Kleenex and tiny bottle of water. Because I see how much therapy and a therapist who is a great fit for me has helped me be stronger, more centered and strategize in the most trying of situations, I was very excited to contribute to TakePart's edition on mental health. And why wouldn't I? I got to ask some very sage experts all about client-therapists relationships and no one charged me a co=pay.  

Health breakthroughs that changed women's lives - I was tasked with writing about advancements that have directly impacted women's well-being in the last 50 years. That's a huge undertaking. Of course, there's the pill and vaccinations. But when I interviewed doctors, like the director of preventative medicine efforts at Mayo Clinic, the list became overwhelmingly long. There was no way to write about every single breakthrough, but I loved pondering how fortifying cereals and milk with vitamins, the HPV shot and smoking bans have made American women's lives better. This one's up in the women's health issue.

8 Tests women must get - With mammo guidelines shifting and the ack! of just considering things like colon-cancer screenings, I get why people -- and, hello, WOMEN -- would much rather focus on making sure the kids get to the pediatrician and dentist in a timely manner and ignore-ignore-ignore what could possibly involve taking blood/inserting tubes/flattening boobs. I talked to a lot of medical experts for this one and it soothed me to hear which screenings will do me good and which ones I can hold off on for now (and maybe forever). This post is no pressure, just empowering, I promise. Find it also in the edition on women's health.

Click to read more ...

Summer: almost there

This was all I needed yesterday, to see this flower mid-bloom and blood red. Big, swollen heart leaves in-waiting all around it.

OK, I needed this and some extra hugs from my boy, who barely wrapped his arms around me, then ran off down the street. He was so free in his body, legs getting longer every single day and arms flailing in the air. I loved watching him from so many steps behind. 

When I bent to take a picture of this peony -- is that right? -- he ran back, stopped when his shins were touching mine and leaned in to see my view from behind the camera.

"Pretty," he said matter-of-factly. "Get that one, too."

He pointed ahead at another. Then waved his hands toward a tidy row of pansies.

"A few of those,  too."

This is how I like my summer evenings. Even if it means a stressful day, my head full of mama worries and money concerns and questions about how we will spend our vacation and if I am all caught up on that project and where my tax paperwork is hiding, I am happy with a summer evening that ends like this. Business and busyness interrupted as we make our way through the neighborhood at our own pace, talking about the day, standing in silence over a row of flowers, waiting patiently for the full bloom.

Click to read more ...