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It's November in Hinsdale and you know what that means: CHRISTMAS IS HERE! I always marvel at how fast halls are decked and stockings are hung in our village mere hours after Halloween candy bowls are emptied, but our family takes a slightly slower approach. I'm not saying I haven't checked our lights to make sure all bulbs are functioning or sorted decorations, but Thanksgiving is the real MVP around here. It's not so much about the food (though my mom's twice-baked potatoes...
Ever notice how your morning alarm feels like an assault on your senses? From doom-scrolling news headlines to battling rush hour traffic (or school drop-off), stress seems to shadow our every move. Doctors warn us about the deadly effects of stress, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and compromised immunity. But what if we're looking at stress all wrong? Perhaps it's not stress that hurts us; it's how we respond to it. When we react by reaching for that bottle of...
Good communication is an important skill that I'm working on. My mom reminds me that there is room for improvement. How do I get better at this skill though? For teens, text messaging and social media are the vehicles for conversation. A quick message or scrolling Instagram is how I get all my information for weekend plans, including events happening around school. Posts on what's happening and who is hanging out with who are pretty typical for teenagers. From those around...
*sigh* What a big week. This column was written three weeks ago back in October. It’s challenging to prepare something for a future date, especially for a week which will have been historic, and without knowing where we, as a society, will be at that moment. At the time of writing, nothing is certain except that at the time of publication, it is likely that half of us feel relieved and excited about the outcome of election events earlier this week — and half of us feel dev...
Early on a recent Sunday morning, I walked to the train station. It was a beautiful day, and I was meeting my son Will in the city. I carried a big plastic bag with me; in it were handmade pieces of love. I was on my way to watch Will’s girlfriend, Holly, run the Chicago marathon. I had crafted posters in her favorite colors, red and green, (with feathers no less!), to hold when she ran by. They were rolled up in my bag, along with posters for my nephew Alex, who was also r...
At breakfast. Charlie, 7: "Daddy, do you love me?" Me: "Of course I do!" "How much?" "Why, I would do anything for you! I would hop in my spaceship and fly to the moon and back just to give you a hug. I'd swim to the bottom of the deepest ocean just to -" "Can we buy a horse?" "I - a what?" "A horse. I could ride it places, like to get ice cream." "Ah. Well, no, we can't buy a horse." "Why not??" "Well, horses are very expensive, and they need a lot of room to run. And the...
I've always been somewhat of a sneakerhead. No, I don't own multiple display-only Jordans or change my gait to avoid toe creasing. I just have a healthy appreciation for a fresh pair of kicks. When my sons started sharing that interest (though their love of Crocs still confuses me), I was pumped we had something else in common, but that excitement was short-lived: The coolest sneakers are usually sans Velcro - and don't even get me started on cleats. Sports moms, I know you...
I'm treading water right now. Freshman year is in full swing at Hinsdale Central and I'm trying to figure out who I am. I'm realizing that what I thought was the real me is not really who I am now. This is a confusing time in my life as I navigate through the scary parts of what high school is all about. I recognize that the amount of time needed for excellence in a sport, volunteering, my classes, and overall well-being exceeds the actual amount of time in a day. You cannot a...
Is there a family in your life that is not really family, but feels closer to you than if you were indeed related? A family whose kids you've watched grow up, reach, thrive? A family in which any member would be there for you at 2 in the morning, in an emergency or literally "just because?" And sorry for leading with so many questions, but doesn't it seem like Hinsdale is filled with such relationships? I know I've been blessed with many friend/families, but I can also look...
At an April D181 board meeting, two concerned parents of Hinsdale objected to LGBTQ-related books from school libraries, including Monroe. One speaker referenced such 25 books, including “history books that feature Harvey Milk and the pride flag.” The other demanded removal of the books. You can probably already guess their other talking points (indoctrination, pushing woke gender ideology, etc.) during public comments. Downers Grove District 99 dealt with a similar moral pan...
Growing up some of my favorite books were the "Little House on the Prairie" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The author and I had the same name. As a third-grader, that was enough to pique my interest. It grew beyond that as I read with fascination about the family's adventures and their day-to-day life. Building your own house, cooking over a fireplace, reading by candlelight. Even as an adult, I love to learn about life in those times. Perhaps that led to my many years as a G...
The clock just clicked over to 7:54 a.m. and I sit alone at the kitchen counter planning my day. It's a pretty average Monday (tennis carpool, grocery store for basics, Costco for bulk items, Kramer's for special stuff, playdate/thunderdome followed by family dinner) but something feels off. It's now 8 a.m.. I kick into a higher gear - answering emails, preparing breakfast and sharing a few memes with my mom bruhs - but the silence is unusual. Deafening, even. I'm sliding scra...
Late summer, the evening light shifts, almost incandescent. I love that the sun always lets us know where we are, on the planet and in life. I’m sitting in my backyard. String lights illuminate a graying wooden fence and red Adirondack chairs underneath the maple tree. On hot days, a squirrel lounges on the chair arm, flattening himself so completely in a shockingly unsquirrel like way, that if I notice, I’m compelled to check on him, make sure he’s OK. I approach, he scramble...
This column was supposed to be about my epic hot air balloon ride. A beautiful, adventurous ride providing the perfect counter balance to the chaotic ugliness of traditional travel. A majestic, joyful ride helping me shed the bitter aftertaste of travel delays due to unpredictable summer storms, software malfunctions, missed connections and last-minute car rentals with flat tires. The ride got canceled due to an unpredictable summer storm. How does one pivot from a planned hum...
The moving truck pulled up earlier than expected. I felt a jolt of adrenaline and dread, knowing it was really happening. This year would be our 21st, and last year, living in Hinsdale. Three big moving guys descended on our home. They were nice but no nonsense as they inventoried our things. They slapped down reams of packing paper and got to work. I cringed as they picked up our special things - crystal from my mother-in-law, Christmas decorations passed down and collected,...
Shortly before daybreak on July 18th, Two sharp, tiny claws bored a hole in the ground. And crawling up from his dark birthplace beneath, A white nymph emerged without making a sound. Then, knowing not why - some deep instinct, I s'pose, He found a tall maple and started to climb. Soon, into bright sunlight young Albert arose, And found himself 30 feet high in no time. The instinct that told him to climb now said, "Stop!" So Albert latched onto the dry, ragged bark. And...
When it comes to complaining about getting old, I'd like to think I have a corner on the market. No one bemoans the fact that he's not a teenager more than me. I don't need to say it out loud. I'm reminded of it every morning when it takes me 10 minutes to get out of bed. But I have to tell you, I think I'll take those aches and pains over being a youngster in today's world. I'm not sure I could handle being a kid in 2024. The schedules are packed from morning until night. If...
When guests stop by our home these days, they're greeted with a scene straight out of a flea market. We're moving to a smaller home and emptying out cabinets and drawers in order to sort their contents into "Keep" and "Dispose Of" piles. Most of our larger items (mainly furniture) that clearly won't fit in the new house were sorted weeks ago and have already been promised to friends and family. All that's left now are the smaller, sentimental items that are so hard to give...
The cicadapocolypse is in full flight. I had hoped that, by some strange fluke of nature, our town would be spared the entomological onslaught. Sadly, I was wrong. All around us now are hundreds of thousands of these bugs. I have heard and read many people describe this event as “wondrous,” or “fascinating” or even “magical.” Of all the words of which I could think, these three are among the very last. Quite simply, they are revoltingly disgusting. They are big. They have f...
Unlike the fictional Southern belle Blanche DuBois, I have only rarely relied on the kindness of strangers, especially when it comes to travel plans. For help, I count on guidebooks and online travel sites such as Trip Advisor. Before a recent trip my husband, Joe, and I took to Washington, D.C., I found You Tube videos by Rob Pitingolo, who runs Trip Hacks DC Tours. I eventually adjusted to Pitingolo’s quirky speech pattern, which GOES something like THIS, paired with r...
I was definitely warned about junior year. I remember being in seventh grade and thinking about high school as this huge, foreboding experience that I would never get through. I would sit in my class, glad to be only in middle school, where the stakes felt low. People talked about high school, and when I got to high school, they still talked about high school. Maybe the fantasies of "High School Musical" rubbed off on everyone? Except for the part where everyone breaks into...
I've been thinking a lot about AI, specifically Generative AI. There are many discussions - some about AI replacing hundreds of thousands of jobs, some about the literal extinction that AI poses to homo sapiens. If AI does develop into super intelligence, what I call "The Entity," what will be the psychological effects on humans? I'm not worried about my generation. We've lived full lives. I'm worried about my children's generation and especially about my grandchildren's...
"What's his name?" we asked the young man at KLM park, some dozen years ago. At the end of the leash he held in his hand was an English bulldog, adorably plump and wrinkly. My daughter and I petted the dog, whose tail wagged furiously at us. "Juice Box," the man said. My daughter and I replied with delight, "Juice Box?! What an awesome name for a dog." The man laughed and said, "No, not Juice Box. Maddox." Or Randolph or Tree Tops or some other name that was not, in fact, Juic...
Last month my husband and two of our kids went to Ohio to visit family and be in the "zone of totality" for the solar eclipse. It was difficult for our middle daughter, a high schooler, and me, to take a day away from school and work. We had a memorable experience here. We put on protective glasses and had all sorts of fun with coworkers and friends. It was great. But when I saw the photos and heard accounts from my parents' backyard in Ohio with everyone together as the sky...
I recall the unsolicited advice I received before heading off to college. I didn't want nor care for the free wisdom at the time, only to recognize how prescient it was much later in life. So, for all the high school graduates headed to college this fall, I offer a few pearls of wisdom. And remember how lucky you are for the gift of the next four (or five) years. • Don't let your ideology become your identity. Having core personal beliefs - political, religious or otherwise -...
