A previous version of this post was published in The Fresno Bee on February 7, 2020. My birthday. (Like, almost two weeks ago now.) When I first noticed my 2020 birthday would land on a weekend, my mind went into overdrive. “I’ve got to have a party! I’ve got to go big! I’ve got to…
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Holy Mother: Jennifer Lopez, Shakira & that Super Bowl performance.
Too hot for TV? Too sensitive to watch? Too much for family Super Bowl entertainment? Yes, yes, yes. Welcome to showbiz, kids. Yes, I’m going talk Jennifer Lopez and Shakira a la what they shook at us for Super Bowl 2020 because the internets are going wild, because I’ve read everything, because I watched the…
2020: Small Choices, Big Results.
A previous version of the following piece was originally published in The Fresno Bee on January 4, 2020. Hello 2020! I tend to start each new year with new goals for self care, a personal mental checklist if you will. Call it a habit of analyzing what the previous year brought, what it didn’t bring,…
Good Follows Gratitude.
The following piece was originally published in The Fresno Bee on November 2, 2019. Hi, November. The silver turkey’s back on my table again and I’m bracing myself for the annual holidaze. Last month, I shared how every October brings me ghosts — how I now live with them throughout the year, how I fend…
October Hauntings: Ghosts, grief & guts to get up.
Everyone has their own month — a month that haunts us, that reminds us of the dark, that sneaks up and tries to scare us when we let our guard down for a second. Mine is October — but not because of Halloween. October now delivers me ghosts. October is now an annual, tumultuous reset…
Sit down. Quiet down. Rise UP (yes, us parents).
A previous version of this article was published in The Fresno Bee on October 5, 2019. Students, discipline and why us parents need to step up more than ever… kindly stop reading now if you don’t enjoy truth in accountability. Several weeks ago, I had a field day on Facebook with Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent…
Dear Daughter, We Are Officially Halfway. (And here’s what I see…)
Dear Daughter, I’m not sure how or why we got here so fast. Halfway, they say. Halfway to 18, halfway to college. Halfway until you are gone from this home as a child. NINE. Nine years of you. Nine years of a reinvented me (being mommy). Nine years of love and life and laughing —…
