She sat across from me, her eyes tearing up. “I am at the end of an era. My youngest child just graduated from high school and my life will never be the same,” she said. This wasn’t an expression of…
The Art of Letting Go
I’ve been learning a lot about letting go lately. Having sent 2 children off to the other side of the world (one to a boarding school in India and one to a gap year in Europe) and also having to…
The Gift of Presence
My fourteen year old daughter has got modern multi-tasking down to a fine art. I might not have believed it possible until I saw it in action: she can watch a television program on her laptop, a music video on…
Ending a Chapter, Beginning a New
I watched, amused, as the young man spoke through gritted teeth, “Just take the picture!” This man-child had his arm around his mother’s shoulders while his father snapped a picture saying, “You don’t start college every day, you know. Smile.” …
Shortcuts to Inner Peace: A System for Stress Management
Sylvia, my client of several months, sat across from me, clearly agitated. This forty-something woman, mother of two teenage boys, going through a divorce but still living under the same roof with her soon-to-be-ex, crossed her denim clad legs exclaiming,…
Wait List
We have been waiting months to learn where our daughter will be going to college this fall. When the day finally came, we learned that her top college put her on their wait list . . . and so we…
Under the Sea
I just returned from the Bahamas with my daughter, Victoria. This was my third and final ‘Teen Trip’, 3 days and nights that I’ve taken with each of my children. Of all the pleasures of the cruise — staring out to…
Minor Details
They handed her to me, still covered in the fluids of birth. She might have been an angel sent directly from heaven. 10 fingers. 10 toes. Two tiny, little ears. She was perfect in every way. And somehow, eighteen years…
At the Edge
Uncertainty is in the air in my house. Out of our five children, four of them will be attending new schools next year. The amazing thing is that we have no idea what schools. What college, what high schools, what…
Roads not Taken
I recently had a SMM (Seasonal Meal with Mom) with my daughter Victoria. As we listened to mariachi music, she looked intently into my eyes and asked, “Mom, would you change anything about your past if you had your life…