More Than Four Sides

Category: Parenting

  • SUV mentality!!

    I drive a small car – a Chevy Volt: I like the agility of a small car, I like having the ability to park nearly anywhere. I also am committed to the idea of EVs – yes, my 2012 Volt is not 100% electric. It only goes about 30 miles on a full charge, and…

  • Spring Break in a Pandemic during Passover

    Spring Break in a Pandemic during Passover

    It’s April 1, which carries a less-than-fun memory for me, although as the years pass, the pain of April 1, 2016 has been replaced by more optimism and hope that I might have imagined possible. In those five years, I’ve bought a house, changed jobs, gained a second synagogue community and seem to be doing…

  • Traveling in Israel with boys…

    I know I haven’t been here for awhile, and I kept meaning to post, but was tired of posting anymore about running (although I did recently finish my first half marathon, which was momentous), or about divorce, or about living alone.

  • Clocking too many miles…

    Yesterday was a prime example of why I need to locate my home base in Rockville. I had the boys with me this weekend, and we had a great time (for the most part – we’re dealing with some pre-teen angst, and the occasional temper-tantrum on the other end). But yesterday included three round-trip journeys…

  • Changing perspective

    How magic it is to simply change how you look at a situation or circumstance (are those two things really different?).

  • Code-switching…

    My boys are with me for three weeks, in Baltimore. And, I enrolled them in Tennis Camp, at Druid Hill Park, right near my apartment. Last week was their first week there.  They have three days to go…before we drive down to Harrisonburg, VA for our annual 4 days of immersion in Ethiopian culture, thanks…

  • The importance of community

    I don’t think of myself as the most social of people.  I have difficulty dealing with crowds of people I don’t know.  I hate showing up at a party where I don’t know anyone, and trying to get into conversation with people.  When I do end up at big crowded parties, I am most comfortable…

  • Clarification…

    I posted on Facebook on Friday the following: I’m hoping that April 1st will be an auspicious day for the start of my new life. Moving forward with some trepidation. So, the deal is – my husband and I are separating, after many years of marriage counseling, trying to arrive at a workable understanding.  I’ve…

  • Outnumbered

    Yesterday, as we began our walk home from Shabbat morning services, my friend, Father Goof, remarked that the adult:kid ratio was way off for my house that afternoon! He was right, but, thankfully, it worked out well. I had 6 boys, aged 7-12, and three dogs (we were keeping our friends’ pair of golden-doodles for…

  • Hermit crabs…why?

    Last August, on our way home from our family holiday at the Heritage and Culture Camp near Harrisonburg, VA, we stopped at a pet store and bought a pair of hermit crabs. It was J who lobbied for them, because he had seen the hermit crab brought in to his after school program on pet-sharing day,…