"I felt the tug on my sleeve and looked down to find him standing motionless. His mouth was moving but I couldn’t make out his words. His quiet body in the noisy room caught me off guard. I bent down to find his voice."
"Once intimacy begins to wane, it can become hard to get back on track. One of the keys to reconnecting is understanding that intimacy is a multifaceted thing. In fact, there are five different types of intimacy, and only when we keep all five functioning can we have marriages that feel profoundly connected."
"I don’t know who this lady is... she waved at him and he made his way up to her. I thought their interaction would be the same as last time but I was wrong. "
"You are about to be surprised little lady. My tirade I am about to have right here, well, it is not one in which you will be put in your place and reminded to be respectful."
"We don’t talk about the day she’ll go to her first dance, or get a driver’s license, or go to college. Or about her getting married, or becoming a mom, or what kind of home she wants to own."
"With the recent announcement of my third pregnancy, I’ve received a surprising number of folks in shock. Of note, aside from the speechless faces and mouths agape, I’ve heard a particular phrase way more than I expected..."
"I was, admittedly, nervous that having a child might throw some of that off-kilter—that, perhaps, adding another human being in the mix might strain our connection and closeness. And you know what? It did."
"Listen, mamas — you can be both the momma who doesn’t want to blink, but who still freakin’ blinks because she needs those brief breaks from her empowering yet fatiguing journey as a life guide for her children."
It was that tense, harried persona that was the norm for a busy, chaotic life. My four-year-old had come up behind me quietly, and I didn’t even realize she was there until she spoke. “Just breathe, Mom.”