We take the tiny miracles which are given us. We pack them carefully and we take them home with us. We keep them for the days when there will be no new memories left to gather and we will have to be content with what we have. I make a mistake. I talk too fast, […]
Removing parents from the pedestals of World’s Best does not diminish us; it recognizes that raising children is a societal responsibility, a collective effort. Here’s a scene: I’m at the New England Aquarium with my husband Jason, his mother, who is visiting us from Alabama, and our 17-month-old daughter, Benna, who has just pooped her […]
All these years after my father’s death, I’m still trying to figure out the nuances of the relationship I had with him, and what made him tick. It’s been six years since my father died. When he got sick with pneumonia in March 2009, we thought he would bounce back, even though the changes in […]
I may not be her biological father, but I hope that one day she’ll see me as her dad. Her mother shares her address with me, her food with me, and her bed with me, but she still firmly refers to Angie as “my daughter.” She still refers to herself as a “single parent” and […]
I have a father and a stepfather, and love them both dearly. But growing up, I always felt sad, guilty, and pulled in two directions on Father’s Day. The other night, as I left the room he shares with his younger brother, I heard the voice of my 5-year-old creep over that of my husband, […]
If parenting is hard, step-parenting is water torture. In 1986, my husband—well, he wasn’t my husband yet—won the county spelling bee. I lost. His blue eyes and stellar spelling skills captivated me. We were 11. Later that year, I would write in my “Garfield” diary, Joni Edelman, Mrs. Joni Edelman, J. Edelman, 373 times—but who’s […]
My father passed away three years ago, but remembering his secrets and the ones I shared with him keep me connected to him. Father’s Day is this Sunday, and I’ve been thinking about my dad a lot. He passed away a little over three years ago, so this is my family’s fourth Father’s Day without him. My […]
Understanding the significance of my father’s childhood has helped me understand my father, and untangle our complicated relationship. My father is the child of Holocaust survivors. It’s strange for me to type those words because that was never how my father described his parents. His parents never discussed the Holocaust or the war. When he […]
