I did not know adults napped. Until the first weekend I spent with my husband’s family, I thought it was only something children did in infancy or on colored mats in kindergarten. But at around two o’clock on that Sunday, something in the house shifted. People started to disappear. They retreated into their various spaces without a word. The house was deadly quiet and so I tiptoed through the living room like a thief. My …

There’s a famous scene from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” that almost everybody knows. It’s plague season, and Eric Idle wanders through the village streets yelling, “Bring out your dead!” People toss bodies on the wagon like it’s recycling day. And then there’s that one guy who just can’t get with the program. He’s on the wagon of death, and he lifts up his head like a baby bird and croaks, “I’m not dead …

I grew up on “Dead Poets Society” and “The Breakfast Club.” Robin Williams was my teacher idol and Judd Nelson my idol crush. Give me poetry and Saturday school and see what happens. I majored in English and read “Leaves of Grass.” Of course I did. I am the bulls eye in the targeted audience for carpe diem in all its glory. I want magic and opportunity. I want the extraordinary life. Except now I …

Our family situation calls for a very particular set of skills. We need the Navy SEALS version of babysitters. And I don’t know another mother with a child with special needs who doesn’t feel the same. We already get less free time, much less time away without worry over our children’s safety. We can’t afford to hand out freebies. It’s nothing personal. It’s business, the business of running our family. We need our people we …

One word on the Oxford Dictionary’s 2016 “word of the year” list spoke wonders about our nation’s current mental, political, and emotional state. “Hygge,” in case you haven’t heard of it, is the Danish word for creating an intimate, cozy experience wherever you are. There’s not even a direct translation into English. It’s an idea, an ambiance. It’s about crocheted blankets and fuzzy socks and hot toddies by the fire. It’s about staging the cover …

It’s time for new beginnings…a time to roll the calendar and the insurance deductible over and to start your taxes and crank up the heat while you look forward to the big spring thaw. But for me, the new year has always been a time of looking back on the good and the bad of the previous seasons. It’s nice to see how we’ve survived and even thrived over the last 365 days. 2017 was …

I’ve done the printables – the bucket lists in a kaleidoscope of colors for every season of the year. I’ve used all the ink in my printer on reminders to carve a pumpkin and make spiced cider and go see Christmas lights and make homemade popsicles and wish on a dandelion. Now I’m done. Mainly because one of two things always happens: Either the list goes on the fridge and waves in the breeze of …

Happy little trees. Who wouldn’t want to live in a world full of happy little trees—branches waving as you pass by, the sun always slanted at the right angle, and life rolling on like a lazy river? Bob Ross lived this way, both in life and in art. And in the 80s and early 90s, if you tuned in to PBS on any given Saturday, his happiness could make you happy too. And though he …

“There is no evidence on EEG to indicate abnormal activity or an active epilepsy. Assuming he has not had any seizures since I last saw him, we can proceed as planned to reduce the seizure medications,” so says our doctor, the expert. Whenever I hear the phrase “abnormal activity,” it sends me back to the good old X-Files days with Scully M.D. muttering over “paranormal activity” as Mulder scrambles down into some huge alien footprint. …

The Netflix documentary “Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond,” chronicles Jim Carrey’s role as Andy Kaufman in “Man on the Moon” where Carrey stayed in character as Andy on and off the set. He wore the clothes, did the voice, held the attitude. In short, he was the biggest, weirdest, most antagonistic comic genius he could be. Until the producers told him to stop. Turns out you can’t live like that for long. You can’t …