Category: family
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Hamster Dance of Death
It soon became obvious that the hamster had somehow crawled into the family couch. When little incisions under the cushions failed to reveal the missing rodent, I painstakingly destroyed the entire seating area in hopes…
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My website is 20 years old today.
MY WEBSITE is 20 years old today. I’m dictating these remarks into a tiny handheld device, not to prove a point, but because, with gorgeously ironic timing, my wired internet connection has gone out. It’s…
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Look Back in Angora
SATURDAY October 25 will be the 14th anniversary of my mother’s passing. Let’s honor it with this 2006 entry from the vaults of My Glamorous Life. Read: Hi, Mom!
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Afternoon Pages
SLEPT much of yesterday. Slept till 1 PM today. Whatever this bug is I’ve got, it lets me work and care for my child during the week, then flattens me all weekend. Fortunately my daughter…
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One Hug
JUST WEEKS ago, my daughter’s mother moved out of state. The kid’s been having a tough time with it, and with school, and with her upcoming tenth birthday, which won’t work out the way she…
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The Color Purple
WHEN my daughter was little, she used to ask me my favorite color. I was a grownup, and could only supply a grownup’s answer: “I love the way light looks in late afternoon,” I might…
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I Cry Inside
MY DAUGHTER cries and begs me not to leave on my business trip. I hold her and tell her I will return soon. My grandfather died in a plane crash between New York and California.…
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A Temporary Reprieve
MY PHONE SHOWED three consecutive voicemails from my dad’s wife. I told myself, this can only mean one thing. Fortunately, it meant something else. You know your father is getting on in years when a…
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They Made Me a Criminal
THE JAIL DOOR SLAMMED and I was left in a women’s holding cell with seven teenage girls. There were no benches so we sat on the floor. I was fifteen but looked twelve. With long…
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Not a Thing in Texas
6:00 AM, AUSTIN. My nine-year-old vegetarian daughter just phoned from New York to inform me that matzo ball soup is made with chicken broth. She has just learned this fact, and wanted me to know…
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Dog Day Morning
THE DOGS leave today. While my ex has been away this month, I’ve watched her two small dogs. And so have my two cats—especially the black alpha. Add an active eight year old girl to…
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That’s love.
FOR TWO YEARS, our daughter was bullied in school. The school didn’t notice and our daughter didn’t complain so we didn’t know. Finally a mom saw and told us. After that, things happened quickly. One…
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Ava’s first comic strip
Bucktooth character: “I wonder what is in this box. It is cute.” Other character: “That is a brick.” Bucktooth character: “Oops, I’ve been trying to open it all day.” Ava’s first comic strip | Flickr…
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The Wind-Down
LISTENING to Coltrane. Taking a break after assembling American Girl doll bunk beds. The tuxedo cat has appropriated Ava’s American Girl doll tent as his personal summer house. Ava is making up a song about…
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And Baby Makes Art
Family, by Ava Zeldman