My Mother In Law
My mother in law and I recently had a falling out. For me, it seemed to come out of nowhere. I really loved her. I thought she was cool and fun and amazing, and I frequently told my friends how much fun I had talking to her and spending time with her. I was surprised […]
Bab El Salam
Sometimes when I’m feeling homesick I go to my favorite restaurant, Bab El Salaam. It’s run by a Palestinian man everyone calls Amo Mazen, and his wife Ammeh Sue. At home, Amo is an honorific you use for a middle aged man out of respect. Amo and Ammeh for a paternal aunt. Our maternal uncle […]
Now and Then
Sometimes I think about how much my life has changed over the years. Ten years ago, in 2012, I was married to an abusive man, with a one year old child and a mother in law that made my life hell. I was trapped in a state where I didn’t know anyone, I had no […]
The Fears Of Children
This morning, we packed up for a weekend at my mother in law’s lakehouse. My kids always love when my mother in law is in town. She’s a lovely person, and our weekends together often involve a lot of fun time jumping off the dock into the lake, or playing board games at her kitchen […]
Mother’s Day Squirrels
Somehow I ended up with a baby squirrel in my shirt yesterday. It would not leave. Normally around this time of year, squirrels this age get a little curious. This one was different though. He wasn’t just curious, he was obsessed. He did not want to leave me. No matter how much I tried to encourage […]
Racism and Gossip
Can we talk about racism and how that sometimes looks like rumors and gossip and drama mongering? Let’s start by explaining how bias can impact how we judge the value of information. As a rule, people tend to trust information that more closely aligns with their previously held beliefs over information that contradicts them. If […]
Three AM Grief
Two years ago today, I was dancing in the kitchen while processing six boxes of apples from a local food bank into applesauce for distribution. It was the height of the pandemic, and I had somehow, in that way that is uniquely me, ended up accidentally setting up a small scale food distribution network for […]
Social Media Monsters and CSPOs
Several years ago, I ran into an online troll who then spent several years harassing me. I thought I finally managed to get him to leave me alone when I completely erased my online presence, only to have him find me again in 2018. I’ve become only a minor target to him now, and his […]
Finding My Faith
I find God’s grace in the hard moments and the soft ones. I find it in holding scared children tight against my chest and whispering reassurances as I take them from terrifying situations into safer ones. I find it in sharing a cup of coffee with a friend having a bad day. I find it […]
Parenting Shouldn’t Be This Isolating
Yesterday I took a friend out to lunch. I had an ulterior motive — I’ve been homesick and I wanted to go to my favorite Palestinian restaurant. I could have gone alone, but part of what makes Palestinian food feel like home is sharing it with people. My friend and his three year old picked […]