Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: motherhood
Time for Joy
The feminist struggle could be pretty joyless. I became a mother in the thick of it – in 1973. Should I wear a nursing bra or burn it? That was the question. Like every movement that seeks equal rights, recognition, and authenticity, feminism took… Continue Reading “Time for Joy”
The Hooked Rug
This was not what I’d had in mind. My vision was me sitting in a rocker, nursing my beautiful baby, my long hair shielding her little face from the moonlight, Joan Baez singing softly in the background. I thought having a baby would be… Continue Reading “The Hooked Rug”
The First Time She Knocked, I Couldn’t Answer
In much of the world, motherhood is an accident, something that happens to women, not something they choose. The accident that is motherhood then takes over a woman’s physical being, lives off her body, changes her external life, her relationships with others, and her… Continue Reading “The First Time She Knocked, I Couldn’t Answer”
My Tattoo
What’s your tattoo? What do you put on your arm or your shoulder or the top of your foot? What’s the symbol? The one thing that would have such enduring meaning that you wouldn’t mind glancing down at your withered feet to see your… Continue Reading “My Tattoo”
The Gathering
It could get crowded in my dining room with those three other women, the mothers of my adopted children. It made things tight bringing food out and clearing the table, struggling to inch past them, the skinny and stout, all with black hair and… Continue Reading “The Gathering”
The Day After Sandy Hook
I woke up twenty times last night and each time I thought the same thought. Their mothers must still be shrieking. Shrieking and keening. Making sounds they never heard themselves make. That’s what the Sandy Hook mothers are doing, I know it. And then… Continue Reading “The Day After Sandy Hook”
On My Mother’s Birthday
We weren’t much for celebrating birthdays in our family. Oh, occasionally, there would be a cake and I do remember one party with an assortment of kids around our dining room table. But it was only once. It’s a family’s mom who organizes things like… Continue Reading “On My Mother’s Birthday”
Lemons
This is one of those blog posts that’s going to get me scolded either by members of my own family or by the dreamy adoption people who believe that God personally selected the child they adopted. I don’t care because the truth of the… Continue Reading “Lemons”
Parenting Throwdown
Today was a parenting throwdown that started at 5:39 a.m. with a text, ran in and out the doors of many gyms, scored a few goals, committed no fouls, and made sure no one was thrown out of the game. And I am exhausted.… Continue Reading “Parenting Throwdown”
One Kiss
You only need one kiss. On Mother’s Day. Or any day. You don’t need dozens. Just one. To kiss or be kissed. It’s the same. That’s all you need. Is one.
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
Recent Comments