Or: A Sleeping Bat During An Unthinkable Global Crisis — Yesterday, at the playground, there was a bat. Like, a living, sleeping bat, tucked covertly but precariously away beneath one of the ledges that my daughter likes to walk along on the perimeter of a play structure. A bigger kid found the bat first, and I’m a little ashamed to…

The Fair Play Deck was designed for couples, but I think it’s for everyone. — Here’s some shocking news: The white “Problems For Weekend Sophie” bin by my bedside is empty, and it’s Friday. It’s Friday at the end of one of the busiest weeks of my calendar year, and so how is this possible? In case this bin isn’t self-explanatory: I put things in…

I’m Sorry That I Will Have To Talk About My Period For 766 Words Before I Get To That, But It’s Absolutely Necessary, And You Will Survive — There’s no elegant way to say this: in the year 2000, I was pumped to get my period. It was the first time something that happened in movies happened in my actual life. And here’s what was true about my period: NOTHING IN THE MOVIES HAD PREPARED ME FOR IT! …

Businesses know how to exploit this psychological human feature; don’t fall for it — I keep a running list of things I might someday like to write about, and mostly I don’t write about these things, because they aren’t good ideas. On the top of a recent list of topics is “Haircut (you have to go through a part you hate to get to…

My sister on the phone yesterday: “I literally cannot name a single person right now who is doing OK.” — Once again, everything is not OK. (As an aside: my sister asked several months ago, “What do you mean when you say ‘OK’?” And I felt like it was one of those things where you know when you know, but also a valid question. Nevertheless, my impulse when someone asks…

Here’s What Happens When You Stop. (You Can Start Stopping With A Garden.) There is a certain way that men my age garden. I’m not sure that this is a universal rule, but I’ve noticed it in, like, seven men. …

And Why Love Is At The Center Of It All — Let’s get this out of the way: I’m a polyamorous person, and I got married. (Here’s an article about why I did it, in case you point your nose up at this idea. Please come back once your nose is back in my direction!) When my husband and I got…

On making space. I loved the forsythia that came with our house, and how could a person not? First, there’s that name, sounding like the villainess you root for in a dragon-fantasy novel. Then there’s the fact of forsythia’s yellowness: it’s a flowering shrub that can tower to twelve feet, and when it…

You Can Grieve Whatever You’re Grieving, However Small. It Doesn’t Make You Solipsistic. — Two weeks ago, I attempted to throw a party. Well, “party” isn’t really the right word. I had what I thought was a brilliant idea: I’d invite new parents to my house during a window of time that babies usually aren’t napping on a Saturday, I’d get huge bins and…