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I wrote a column for The Hinsdalean in 2018 called "Superhero Moms and Dads" that was about all of the many cool things we do for our kids as they grow up and how we parents should feel like superheroes because our kids see us that way. It's been about five years since I wrote that article. My husband and I are about to send our firstborn off to college and see our younger son begin senior year of high school. Seemingly overnight, we've gone from superheroes to ordinary...
Lately, no matter where you look, it’s Barbie, Barbie, Barbie. The hugely popular new “Barbie” movie has scores of people writing and speaking a name that is so deeply rooted in the mid-century that you probably can’t think of a single baby named Barbara. Not now, and more than likely, not in the past several decades. That doesn’t matter, though, because the movie has made my name (at least in a diminutive form) and the toy that also bears it wildly relevant again. And that...
When your child leaves for college, there is plenty of advice on how to handle the transition, ranging from gentle comedy to true grief counseling. It is an adjustment period for the whole family. What no one warns you about, though, is when they come back. By the time I went to collect my oldest this past May for his first summer home, I was desperate just to have his physical presence in my orbit. It had been months with no visits or breaks. My inner dialogue was manic....
Recently I was having a conversation with a mom of two school-age kids. "Only 10 more weeks until school starts!" she said, already feeling drained with near constant summer activities and endless questions asked by her daughter. I nodded my head, because I vividly remember those days, running after three little boys and counting down the hours until my husband came home from work. I reminded my friend of the saying, "The days are long and the years are short," a cliche so...
"Soy un perdedor, I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?!" If these lyrics from Beck resonate with you, you might be the father of a teenage boy or the mother of a teenage girl (or someone in need of clinical assistance). It's true - I am the dumbest, clumsiest, most thoughtless and annoying person on the face of the earth. I know because I've been told so (maybe not as directly) many times. What makes my flaws even more apparent, though, is a series of events. For...
Saanvi: To our entire Red Devil nation, thank you for joining us today to celebrate the Red Devil class of 2023. Fatimah: Honestly, none of it would be possible without the help of our parents, teachers and the D86 staff. Not to mention Google Translate, Photomath, Sparknotes and, our very new addition, ChatGPT. Saanvi: Are you forgetting something? Fatimah: Oh right! Both: The Devils Roast. Saanvi: We’ve had a good four years. Fatimah: Well, more like a good two years. You can’t forget when our two-week break turned into a w...
Another school year has come to an end, and another summer has begun. Every single summer I’ve spent in Hinsdale has felt like a variation of the same thing over and over again — a cup of coffee and reading on the porch in the mornings, long walks around town in the summer heat, working at night, hanging out with friends and the occasional vacation. Every single summer has been wonderful in its own way. But this summer, I’m looking for something different. Luckily, diffe...
The question recently overhead in a Hinsdale boutique wasn't meant for me but I could have answered it. "When do you leave for Europe?" I didn't catch the answer because I was on a mission. My implausible dream: Find chic attire that could lead to my being mistaken for someone fluent in something other than a Southeast Missouri drawl while traveling in - yes - Europe. Given multiple news reports on the high demand for transatlantic flights, perhaps Hinsdale boutiques are...
"When the student is ready the teacher appears. When the student is truly ready the teacher disappears." - Lao Tzu I love that quote. Aren't we all students making discoveries about ourselves and the world throughout our lives? We are if we're awake. I know I've learned a lot since becoming a parent some 23 years ago. I don't normally get all philosophical, but I was trying to think of ideas for this essay when I passed by Peirce Park and saw Little League season has begun....
My mother immigrated to the United States from England by way of Greece just a few years before I was born. My British heritage meant my childhood was steeped in tea with a splash of milk and a generous amount of sugar. Sick, lonely, ordinary, celebratory and tearful days all called for a cup. This custom lent a stabilizing habit that followed me into motherhood. A few weeks after the birth of my first child, I called the doctor in a fit of new mother nerves, explaining in a q...
Here we are in April again, friends. The temperature is warming up (shhhh, this week doesn't count!), birds are nesting on my front porch and the Silberberg family calendar is bursting at the seams. Some entries are mine or my husband's but the majority belong to the 4-feet-and-under contingent of our crew. First there's education. Pretty standard, as times and locations have been unchanged since August. Add baseball, T-ball, soccer and basketball, all with games and...
Every year for Lent, I try to challenge myself by giving up something that has too much of a hold on my life. This year, that was Tik-Tok. I anticipated that it would be difficult - that's why I gave it up - and that I would feel out of the loop on trends, new music and other people's lives. What I didn't expect was to not miss it at all. And after going over 40 days without Tik-Tok, I've happily decided not to re-download it. Although I have always preached my disdain for...
We humans think a lot of ourselves. And rightly so. After all, unlike other species, we can contemplate the past and look forward to the future. We humans can talk in actual sentences with distinct and nuanced words. All you other species, what have you got? Quack, quack. Oink, oink. Bah, bah. Tweet, tweet. Come on, you, you — animals! And how about quantum physics? Any chimps or crows or dolphins thinking about that? Huh? Our greatest human minds can’t figure it out, of cou...
Our house is a very fine house. When we moved into our split, it was a compromise of sorts. The house - around 50 years old - was not new, yet not really old. Instead, it was affordable and fixed up. Nice and new to us. No weekends would be spent rehabbing. A compromise because I'm an old house person and my spouse a new house person. Give me quirky layouts, stairs in the kitchen, musty smells from summers past, spirits left behind. My husband likes pristine. Fresh paint,...
I recently stumbled into a conversation about faith, my palms sweaty, my heart pounding. We were about to break the unspoken rule of dinner gatherings: no discussion about politics or religion in this cultural moment, the risk of offense is too great with ever-present land mines that will cancel you out of the relationship. But there we were, seated on the couch, while the dessert was plated and the kids' voices rang around us. I listened as we sipped our drinks and my friend...
If you are a local music fan of a certain age, then you are aware of the recent passing of WXRT DJ Lin Brehmer. Sadly, Lin died of prostate cancer this past January at the age of 68. I have to tell you, this hit me quite hard. I have been a fan of XRT since my high school days, and Lin has been there almost the entire time. I didn't really know him personally, although he was a friend of my sister's, so I had the good fortune of meeting him a few times at concerts. Jovial, hea...
When songwriters Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz penned the country song “When You Say Nothing At All,” they didn’t mean keep your mouth shut when your loved one does something trivial that nonetheless annoys you. From the lyrics, it’s clear that we’re being told that a smile, a look or the “touch of your hand” says “I love you” just as clearly as speaking the words aloud. But I want to make the case that sometimes, keeping your mouth shut sings out how much you care. The din...
I'm sitting at my laptop wondering how Pam does it. How does she compose a column, every single week, and one that's a lot longer than the 450 words I need to write. I don't mean to dissuade any of you from becoming a guest columnist. It's fun, pushes your creative muscles. I'm waiting for inspiration, a heartwarming story, anything to start the new year off right. Instead, I've got nothing but the doldrums. My holiday spirit put away with the decorations. I'm not a winter...
I have never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions. The way I figure it, if you want to partake in self-improvement activities, why wait until Jan. 1? The date is utterly immaterial. But the pathetically predictable resolutions are the things that really irk me. Like losing weight. I already know I could use to shed a few pounds. That scenario is the same on New Year’s Day as it was on the Fourth of July. I’ve made the effort in the past, and yet here I am once again, lamen...
I was making dinner a few nights ago when I heard my boys having a serious conversation - or as serious as serious gets for a 4- and 6-year-old. "Hey E," said C, the older one. "Do you think you're on Santa's nice list or naughty list this year?" They were in the middle of destroying the living room for the fourth time since school let out. Race cars and Magna-Tiles littered the floor, a couch cushion fort lay half-toppled next to the Christmas tree and a Pisa-esque tower of...
The nice thing about winter is that there is nothing to do, and since there is nothing to do, there is no reason to feel guilty about doing nothing. Got that? Now summer is a different story. When the weather is nice, we feel compelled to go out and do something. Anything. Run, jump, bike, swim, barbecue. Eat barbecue. Eat more barbecue. Summer is a very demanding season. But winter asks nothing of us. We can cuddle up on the sofa and read, watch TV, surf social media. We can...
Hello. My name is Denise and I have struggled with alcohol all my adult life. And by "struggled" I mean I have never been able to convince myself that the stuff tastes good and is worth the calories. I would love to enjoy an occasional glass of wine with family and friends. But I've learned that drinking the wine isn't the problem; it's the "enjoying" bit. And I've tried. For years. And I'm envious of those who find something delicious and soothing in those cool-looking and in...
David Dragon was 16 years old when he secretly traversed the sewers of the Warsaw Ghetto, defiantly risking capture by the Nazis, to scavenge scraps of food. He brought back whatever little he could find to feed his parents and siblings. Yet despite his courageous efforts, his mother and father died of starvation. He was 19 when the Nazis captured him and sent him to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Amid the death and human suffering, he toiled laying the bricks that formed...
I don't know when it happened, but at some point a veil of unnecessary urgency settled over things. The school drop-off, the grocery store run, paperwork, laundry, meetings, phone calls, emails, texts, volunteering, helping with homework, preparing dinner and a smattering of extracurricular activities for every member of our household. All of these are chosen, worthy pursuits, yet overfilling our days with good things leaves little time to linger and the word "Hurry" on my lip...
My youngest son emerged from preschool recently sporting a huge grin. It wasn't an uncommon sight at pickup - he loves his school and is a smiley dude in general - but when he shouted, "MOM! GUESS WHY I HAD THE BEST DAY EVER!" before buckling himself into his carseat, I knew I was in for a treat. I inquired immediately. Did he get to be the line leader or the lunch helper? No. Was he fresh off constructing the largest Magna-Tile tower in the western suburbs? Nope. Could it be...
