It’s difficult to watch the people we love age. I’m 37 and in a few short weeks my husband will be 64-years-old. I’ve felt the years change him, seen how time has frustrated his joints and caressed away his hair, but I’ve never really cared; the intelligence lapping through his mind is my quintessential eros. [...]

Do you remember a few weeks ago when I was lamenting about education and admitting the bits of sanity rolling through the tumble brush of my mind were riding away on a breeze? I was losing sleep and working diligently to drown in ice cream as I registered my son to begin a public school [...]

Aaron and I crossed state borders to spend last weekend with friends, a place where there are lots of children to play with and fun to be had. Tuesday I unplugged from work, put down my Blackberry and spent the day humoring my child. The rest of the week I participated in play dates, made [...]

Work/life balance is the highly-sought but often illusive goal for those of us researched and generalized as Gen Xers. Men and women, moms and dads, we’re always striving for the right mix of personal and professional.
My husband and I through much contemplation, tough decisions and a little bit of muddling have created a best of [...]

I know I’ve been on a bit of an advocacy tangent related to child sexual abuse, and the subject matter can be difficult to engage with. Sometimes I’m angry. Sometimes I’m hopeful. Sometimes I ramble with no definitive direction. I want to thank each person who has commented or emailed me, each person who has [...]

I’m quite sure the realization of magnitude does not help with the isolation many victims of sexual abuse feel, but I wonder while these stats set my mind on fire, and I look into faces full of wide-eyed wonder in my son’s preschool classroom, why the hell aren’t we talking about this more?
Multiple children in [...]

It’s not brave to talk about it. It’s not obscene disclosure or a cry for help. Could it be possible, plausible even, can we knock our minds to and fro to look at an issue from a different angle and create new dialogue?
Women and children who’ve endured men’s violence carry with them an internal shame [...]

Do boys and bugs go hand-in-hand? Snips and snails and puppy dog tails.
I’m not a fan of insects, regardless of whether or not they sting, crawl, creep bite or not, I like to keep a respectful distance. Spiders are not welcome in my home and when they dare crawl a wall or dangle above my [...]

One of the most important things I can do as a parent is help my child to feel empowered.
Prompted by some recent preschool playground tomfoolery, I’ve been talking with Aaron about what it means to be a good friend and how important it is to stand up for ourselves and each other, not to be [...]

I started blogging because I needed some place to release a creative muse, and I was trying to avoid a late-night chocolate binge. I know Shout isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, or coffee, or wine. Hell, it’s certainly not everyone’s idea of a good, stiff drink. I’ve gone back and forth with myself to create [...]