Archive

This Father’s Day, thanks to a Budweiser commercial honoring stepfathers that made me blotchy-red-face-snotty-nose cry when I saw it (and is still making me cry as I write this), I am thinking about stepfathers. The commercial features grown children acknowledging what amazing step fathers they have and asking their stepdads to be officially adopt them. […]

I just spent the weekend at a retreat for my kid’s school at a magical little nature lodge on a volcano by a river and it was my favorite kind of time. Everyone just hanging out, cabin rotations, no privacy, shared meals, and everywhere I went there was someone I knew, and was about to […]

I am a mom. You’re probably thinking: “Yeah, we get it Karen. We’ve seen your posts. You’re a mom.” But I am like, the mommiest mom you can think of. I know this because small children I don’t know walk up to me and hand me their gum, or their foot so I can tie […]

My dad died when I was 30 and my mom died 6 years later. I was 36 when I became an orphan. So, like, yeah, I was married with two kids in a house on a cul-de-sac and I was pretty sure I was pulling off the “I am a real life grown-up” vibe. It […]

In a world where women need to smile constantly, as a creepy little tax to simply live in the word, I have a daughter who is just not having it. This is my daughter Boo, as Dorothy, when she was 8. You know, kind of like a “Don’t Fuck With Me” Dorothy. She is not […]

This is Marianne. She just had a birthday, and now she is 50. And I love her. But I still have not called her. Why is that? A) I am a shitty friend. B) I want to do something special but couldn’t figure out what. C) I figured it out and was scared to commit. […]

If you put a lobster in a pot with tepid water and gradually increase temperature, the lobster will be lulled into a sense of security and not realize it is slowly being suffocated to death. Abusive relationships are a lot like that. I am now coming to terms with the realization that I spent over […]

“I am 45 with two failed marriages!” my friend asserted while in a full self-pity spiral. As if the number of years she has been on the planet plus the number of times she has believed in a relationship somehow means she will never find love or be worthy of respect again. I couldn’t believe […]

Sometimes parenting is just what happens when you are doing other things. We snap “Put that down!” in the grocery store. We spell words for emerging writers while making dinner. We manage to squeeze in meaningful conversations while driving. But if we want to practice mindful parenting, it is good to have some phrases at […]

Freedom is a beautiful thing I think we can all agree that women are under a lot of scrutiny. A lot. We are almost always too fat – unless we cross over and become “disgustingly thin” or a “skinny bitch”. We are expected to behave, and we hear these commands all the time: “Smile!” “Sit […]