He can be a freak at the grocery store, one minute a Zen angel then a bull on methamphetamine.  He pulls this stunt at Whole Foods, no less, which is where Buddha actually shops (Jamaican with dreadlocks this life).  Remember, one has to make it from the entrance through the maze of aisles then to check-out and back to the car which believe me, takes the skill of a rodeo clown and the patience of Job, of ten Jobs with a continuous morphine IV drip.  Today was one of those…

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Pregnancy is only seen by the world from the outside, an adorable round belly dressed in what is becoming increasingly vogue maternity-wear, a ten-month progression that becomes an even more adorable "bundle" dressed in soft delicate pastels that can cost more than a pair of Jimmy Choo's.

The world leaves out the gritty middle details, that Daddy didn't suffer the debilitating round ligament pains which feel like a metal vice clamped on Mommy's groin, or that Daddys…

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The gracious hostess has gone to a lot of trouble - seven-course meal, three desserts, expensive wine; a table setting involving white linen, tiny name cards, two dozen pink roses and her best china. After the initial greeting at the door she introduces us to the other dozen guests, all dressed to the nines, then launches into the expected, "So what do you do?" - at me, probably because I look unprepared or irresistibly mysterious - the latter I hope. I stumble…

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Trooper Snyder's voice on the phone sounded deeply southern as there were both absent and added syllables, "Ma'am, I don't want to alarm you, but your son was Life-flighted to the hospital 'cuz durin' the accident the vehicle landed on his hea'ud."

I scrambled to collect my then three month-old and toddler for the trip to Herman Hospital's trauma center, a small calm wedge of my brain knowing I had to navigate safely but quickly through Houston traffic while avoiding…

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There was a black upright piano on the back wall of the dining room where my mother and I prepared for a church performance that never happened.

For hours we practiced, me slowing her down as I could always get as far as From the dust of the earth/God created man but faltered beyond that.

 

The practice was satisfying on its own, me getting lost in her warmth as she guided my helium-pitched voice through tough harmony parts. She reminded me patiently of…

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After seven interruptions of my "peaceful" morning coffee within fifteen minutes (fights, injuries, questions, requests, tears, screams, destruction of property), I gave up and put the two and four year-olds downstairs in front of the TV. Mornings are my sacred time to become conscious again, to swim against the tide of dreams and into the light - the bright burning light of day.

From daybreak to dark, the work of my day is constant. Any…

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This morning I stood too long in the cold gray rain while my dog, Chester, refused to pee.



Then I drove to IHop to have breakfast with my husband and two young children; he took his own car for some reason, something about having to go to Fryes for a computer thingy after eating, and he better be sneaking off to buy me an awesome frickin' Christmas present, I secretly thought, tallying up his man-sins for 2009.



Once at the restaurant (whose bathrooms NEVER seem to… Continue