Archive for Parents/Children/Family
Today is the 43rd anniversary of my mother’s death. And today would’ve been my father’s 84th birthday. (It’s been nearly 19 years since he was killed.) I’m musing about what they might be like if they were still alive. It’s not so hard for me to imagine Peter at 84; I’m sure he would’ve continued […]
Today would have been my mother’s 80th birthday. I can’t really imagine her at 80—she died at age 37. What would she have been like if she’d had another 43 years? I can make guesses—I imagine that, like many other people, she would have stayed fundamentally herself, while still growing and changing over time—but still, […]
My father would’ve been 81 years old today. And today is the 40th anniversary of my mother’s death. This is often a rough time of year for me because of those anniversaries, but this year I seem to be more or less okay. Shoulders tense, a little irritable, not sleeping well. But mostly fine. (Though […]
Today is the fifteenth anniversary of my father’s murder. (For anyone who doesn’t know what happened and wants to know, here’s the writeup that I posted in 2006, on the first anniversary. Content warning for a fairly detailed discussion of his murder, and a brief discussion of his SO Nancy’s suicidal depression.) (…Something that I […]
Mostly good day. Today (the 17th) would’ve been my mother’s 76th birthday. I wasn’t as fragile or distressed as I sometimes am this time of year, but nonetheless decided it would be good to keep social interaction relatively minimal with people who I don’t know. In the morning and early afternoon, I helped Mary Anne […]
Mother’s Day is complicated, and different people have very different reactions to it. Sympathies to all for whom Mother’s Day is a difficult, painful, or complicated day. Happiness to all for whom Mother’s Day is a joyful occasion to celebrate. To those who have no strong feelings about it either way, and to those experiencing […]
I recently came across my printed copy of “A Hundred Necessary Rules of Conduct for Children,” by Christopher Dock, Mennonite schoolmaster, originally published in 1764. Occurred to me that (a) perhaps various parents of my acquaintance might find it useful in teaching their children how to behave :), and (b) it might be available online. […]
Today is the 14th anniversary of my father’s death. I’ve been mostly okay the past few days, but kind of fragile and mood-swingy. Have gotten some important overdue stuff done at work this week, but have also had multiple instances of getting too anxious to read specific emails and thus ending up being later than […]
Today is the thirteenth anniversary of the day my father was killed. A lot of years, I get tense and irritable in the couple of weeks leading up to the anniversary. This year, I’ve been pretty much fine. A little sad, and a little scattered (have had a hard time focusing and a hard time […]
I spent today mostly hanging out with family, which was great. Saw one niece in a production of Lion King...
Twelve years ago today, my father was killed. I've been off-kilter for the past couple weeks; sometimes fine, sometimes sad...
For weeks, I've been meaning to post here, but I keep shying away, for reasons not entirely clear to me....