I use air quotes whenever speaking about the “Summer” of 2023. It is easily confused with Winter 2022, minus the daylight of course. Sure, we had to mow the yard instead of shovel the driveway, but the moral of the story is we wore the same coat for both chores. And a person shouldn’t need a coat to cut the grass. The saying “there’s no … Continue reading The Little Summer That Wasn’t
Detasseling corn is a rite of passage in Nebraska. Every July, groggy teens climb aboard dusty school buses at dawn, bouncing along gravel roads to cornfield after cornfield. Kids fan out across the field, one person per row, tasked with pulling the tassel from the tippy top of each stalk of corn in their assigned row. After row. After row. Detasseling was my first job. … Continue reading From Detasseling to Dipnetting
‘Tis the season for travel once again, so we hopped down to Nebraska for Thanksgiving this year. It was a whirlwind weekend filled three family dinners, two birthday cakes, and one painful football game. There’s not a lot of photo documentation, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Except for the painful football game. We did manage to capture that! This is the … Continue reading Thanksgiving 2021
Earlier this month, my parents celebrated 50 years of marriage. They’ve never been ones to make a big hoopla about their anniversary, but this one warranted something special. There was no way my siblings and I were going to let fifty years go by without a celebration. A party was out of the question. Our folks would never go for it, there’s still this whole … Continue reading Silver & Gold
For me, Mexico was a brief intermission to a bigger show: after 18 long months, I once again had a ticket to Nebraska. Clark and the kids wouldn’t join until the following week, after the state soccer tournament. I was headed home. Alone. So much had changed, yet everything felt the same. If that makes sense? First up: a new family member to meet. My … Continue reading Home Again
Usually we opt to let the magic of Christmas unfold in our own living room, and we’ve dedicated a decade of Decembers to creating our very own holiday traditions. On Christmas day it’s usually just the four of us, hanging out in Christmas pajamas while approximately 2,815 miles away our families are gathered around tables, playing cards, sharing turkeys and hams and prime ribs, exchanging … Continue reading Husker Holidaze
Alaska’s salmon swim to the open sea for their adult lives, but they always return home in their final phase of life. Nebraska’s brome grass is the opposite: it sets deep roots, but there’s no telling how far its seeds will spread, setting new roots in faraway places. Moving 3,000 miles from home seemed like a good idea when we were in our 20’s, when … Continue reading Going Home
We celebrated 12 years of Sam this summer. Here’s the annual time capsule summary of this child we love beyond words: He’s pensive. He soaks in so much of what he hears and observes, and quietly reflects on it for days and weeks. What wit! What laughter! His sense of humor is wise beyond his years, yet he still loves potty humor YouTube videos. Either way, … Continue reading Celebrating Sam
Today I am grateful for the scientific advancement of airline travel. I really am. Living in Alaska, it would be impossible to visit family (or tropical places 🙂 )without it. But when it goes wrong, it is so, so hard. And this holiday season it went so, so wrong. I dropped off Clark and the kids for their red eye flight on the Friday before Thanksgiving. … Continue reading Retrospective Gratitude
Today I’m grateful for a Husker win that didn’t spike my heart rate too much. The next time they take the field, we will be there to cheer them on in person!! I have fond memories of attending games at Memorial Stadium back in the college days, and can’t wait to share the experience with the kids. Clark’s cousin sold us four tickets at face value, … Continue reading Another Husker Win!
Profoundly Ordinary 