I laugh when I remember that I ever thought life would follow my plan. — I’m letting go of failure and everything else that didn’t turn out like I planned. At this stage, I laugh when I remember that I ever thought life would follow my plan. How cute, I think to myself, about my younger self furiously plotting her future. When I was a…

For a genetically competitive group of wordies, we keep it a friendly game. Mostly. — My two older brothers and I love to read. My oldest brother started his comic book line; I am a published author, personal essayist, and teacher; and my middle brother is an avid reader. We learned to love words from an early age due to our mother’s love of language…

I have a choice to make about my mother’s final days: whether to plant a garden of forgiveness or hold tight to my regret. — Mother’s Day has become difficult for me ever since I lost my mother. Not just because I miss my mom terribly but because of what I did not do for her. As a spiritual seeker, I tell myself I could choose to let go of my sadness and grief and…

I do not think dog training is going to help. Mom training? Maybe. — Disregard my call, I just realized you were teaching, my husband texted me. He probably wanted to remind me for the fifth time that the dog trainer was coming at 5 PM for Shiloh. I don’t know why we need a dog trainer because Shiloh is perfect. Shiloh is a…

When it comes to your endometrium, you don’t want to be impressive. — I am tired because I had an early morning appointment with the gynecologist because my endometrial lining is 9 millimeters. I had to get up early, down a mug of coffee, throw on some facial moisturizer SPF 30, get dressed, scribble through five pages of patient papers — yes I’m…

When the yoga teacher said, “Today, my intention is blank.” I thought, yes! — Yesterday, I set the stage for my peace. I went to hot yoga and Mikey asked, “What is your intention?” He even gave us a prompt, “Today, my intention is blank…” That’s what he said: “blank,” as in we, the yogis, should fill in the blank. But I liked blank…

Thirty years of friendship to celebrate twenty-five years of marriage — and oysters. — I don’t eat oysters. I always wanted to. I wanted to be one of those cool girls sitting in a white T-shirt next to the ocean eating oysters with barbecue sauce or Cajun dip. Slurping them up, drinking a beer, it all looks so Instagram-worthy. …

With every news alert that pops up on my phone, I feel like I might fall down. — I left her a message on her cell phone. But not really. I cannot call the number anymore because AT&T gave it to someone else. When my mother first died, I called her voicemail and left message after message. Most of them were me asking, “Mom, where are you?” and…

My daughter and I had Grandma Memorial Manicures in honor of my mother who loved manicures and blouses and leopard and denim and anything with rhinestones on it. — June 7 — Today is my mother’s birthday. She would have been eighty today, but she is not here. There is a part of me that will grieve the loss of my mother forever. Living without her is a strange new world where I am a motherless daughter. It is…