A grown-up night out

One thing we’re not good at–and I’ve said this before–is making sure the Cabana Boy and I have time away from the kids with other adults. It’s something parents of special needs children really need to do as often as they can, to replenish their own sense of identity. As the folks at Hopelights say: [...]

Continue reading »

A breath of fresh air

This weekend the Cabana Boy and I took a break. We left the children with my daughter’s day care business and we went out of town. Not far. Just to Pittsburgh. But as far as we were concerned, it was a world away. Not only did we deserve it; our kids deserved it, too. Respite [...]

Continue reading »

What fathers want

After dealing with the aftermath of several families’ dysfunction of late, I’ve noticed a certain pattern that shows that the old model is severely out of date. Sometimes when Dad is out doing what he feels is expected of him–providing for his family financially–Mom is just not living up to her side of the bargain. [...]

Continue reading »

When passion doesn’t pay

Regular members of my readership club will note a drop-off in post frequency, and I apologize for that. I have been distracted by…dare I say it? Life. As if Little Miss and her PMS isn’t enough, we have been wrestling with the Captain’s behavior, which looks like it will now be handled by partial hospitalization [...]

Continue reading »

Little Miss is now a woman…

Isn’t this a fabulous menarche goddess? I found it here. I remember the pieces we did in The Vagina Monologues about  the first time, and all the reactions mothers had–girls getting slapped, girls forced on birth control, girls given a beautiful feast and celebration with their female relatives. But this is Little Miss we’re talking [...]

Continue reading »

Coming down to the end

We’ve been traveling a rocky road with the Captain since mid-October of last year. His behavior reverted to that of a first or second grader and has been on a hellish cycle ever since. He’s been suspended from school several times, each infraction a little worse than the last, when he said one of his [...]

Continue reading »

I’m a dance mom!

For years, I’ve been a bit envious of all those moms with pretty little ballerinas, rushing off to dance class, watching their little angels at recitals. My big girls tried dance, found it wasn’t for them (at least the political aspect of other girls being teachers’ pets), and went on to other endeavors. For the [...]

Continue reading »

When do you say when?

Being a divorce/custody lawyer certainly opens one’s eyes to the possibilities and depths of despair in the world of relationships. Once people commit to each other, they form a whole lot of ties that while easy to break in one way, as in, “Get your lame ass out of here,” they’re much harder to break [...]

Continue reading »