Why can’t we be friends? Let me tell ya!

January 13, 2019

Everyone who knows me knows that PK is a lover, not a fighter. In fact, I like to think of myself as a pretty OK Homo sapien; I hope most of the other ones in my little spot on the globe concur. I try to be easy-going, tolerant, compassionate, kind of heart, and grateful and giving. Natch, I fail, but that doesn’t mean I ever stop trying. After all, like the Human League sang in ’86, “I’m only human.” And the thing of it is, I really, really like most everyone I encounter. In fact, I strive to be friends — or at least friendly — with as many folks as possible. For ...

Change bad. Just ask Cruella Cave Wife

January 6, 2019

The humans really hate change. They just do. They fight it like a toddler with his naptime or a teenager with her curfew or Floyd Mayweather with um, pretty much anything. It’s an unfortunate truth that we just don’t handle conversions, adjustments, and / or transformations well, as a rule. I believe this can be particularly true of mothers as it relates to giving their children much-deserved independence. We’ll get back to that. Look, I honestly feel it’s in our earthly impulse makeup to buck change. I guess it’s been this way since the onset of time. I’m sure even the ...

Sigh-zing up the challenges of a new year

December 30, 2018

SIGH. What a great word. I mean, few others in the English language can, in one little syllable, convey so much depth of emotion and range of feelings. SIGH. It’s almost synonymous with Monday mornings or 5 p.m. meetings or dentist visits, no? It sure as shootin’ captures the essence of: A) The letdown you feel after the holiday season concludes and it’s back to the reality of your insane daily schedule; B) The seasonal affective disorder that sets in for a boatload of us effective every Jan. 2; C) The utter BLECH college moms encounter when forced to send their ...

’Twas two days before Christmas and all through PK’s house …

December 23, 2018

’Twas two days before Christmas And all through my mind Was a list of to-dos Like a mountain to climb. There I was in the kitchen With Monnie at my feet Me cooking like a fiend, She awaiting fallen treats. With Kyle swimming at practice And Kerry leaving in his truck I searched around for some help But was plumb out of luck. My wiry black hair Was falling out by the clumps As the stress of the season Got me down in the dumps. With anxiety rising And my BP close behind I started to feel Like I was losing my mind. The card guilt, the baking, The ...

Premade meatballs? Not in my kitchen, you don’t

December 16, 2018

I remember the first time I opened Kerry’s freezer when we were dating. I’m not sure how long we had been going out when I felt comfortable doing so but it was likely after a few months, I’d imagine. What I saw nearly ended our courtship before it officially began. The mental imagery haunts me to this very day. It was heinous, what I found in that cold, cold compartment on that beautiful, cloudless autumn day. The bright, almost blinding sunlight from the kitchen window was juxtaposed against the deep shadow cast upon the frigid skeleton I unearthed in this icy closet of ...

Student teaches you and thing or two… thousand

December 9, 2018

Nineteen years and three days ago, the world got a whole lot brighter, yo. And not just mine. #ThisKidsGoingPlaces But for my husband and me, that’s when the son — er, sun — came to rest over our little casa. His name is Kyle. Yep, that bundle arrived in dramatic fashion circa 1999, just in time to make this century and millennium one full of hope, joy, and a whole heapin’ lotta love. From 12/6/99 on (well, really from the moment I found out we were expecting), I fashioned myself something of a teacher. Insert laugh track here. Little did I know how much I didn’t know ...