“Why can’t girls walk around without their shirts on?” asks my indignant 11 yr old (Lolie) today on our way back from school. I get it: the culture I was brought up in – one of shame in regards to nakedness – taught me that it’s normal for boys to go shirtless, and wrong for…
Category: general
Chibok list of names, humanity, and when helping hurts
As news comes in today of the rescue of 7 of the girls kidnapped from a school in Chibok, Nigeria, I wonder how many people are looking at the published list of names and wondering what their names are. For those of us in the West, which of those foreign looking collection of letters on…
Of Flowers and Memories
Yesterday I posted a picture on Instagram which I then shared on our Beyond Moi Facebook page, asking the simple question: what is your favorite flower? The image I shared was of our youngest, Sugarbaby, holding in each of her little fists a miniature daisy, my favorite flower. Here is that image: In reading through…
Cultivating Wonder for a Better Tomorrow
“Why is it that the human mind can sort of grasp ‘forever’ but they can’t grasp ‘infinity’? Aren’t they basically the same thing?” My 12 yr old daughter, who we have affectionately dubbed our “Storyteller” for our online audience, reminds me often about the pure joy of wonder. She asked me this question a couple…
Beyond Entertainment
While Jessica was away, this cat has been watching “The Walking Dead.” Jessica doesn’t do zombies and the whole horror genre in general, so I typically choose to wait until she’s away to indulge in some disturbing entertainment. I had wanted to check it out, and now I’m hooked. It isn’t about the gore and…
Moving 2500 Miles Without a Safety Net – Crazy Faith or Crazy Stupid
9 days ago, I left Texas in our old minivan that had previously broken down on two separate occasions on the way to Colorado, without a clue as to where we were going to live when we all arrived in the Pacific NW. We felt it was the right thing to do, and had searched…
HG Awareness Day
It is with mixed feelings that I write for HG awareness day. On one hand, though it has more and more been acknowledged as a real disease that affects a good number of women (and their families) in recent years, it has a long long way to go to outgrow the common perception that it’s…
Dance
“…like no one’s watching.” The only thing is, when I’ve tried, I am so deeply aware of the fact that I have no moves… ++++Awkward ++++Lame ++++Stupid ++++Uncreative and uncontrolled ++++Un-cool So I turn to humor. Because I’ve learned that I can continue “belonging” if I can make them laugh. ++++Self-deprecating? ++++++++++Maybe ++++++++Face-saving? ++++++++++++Yes. Well,…
Beyond bedtime- when the wrong choice is the right choice
I didn’t have the heart to call them in. Imaginations were running wild as the 5 sisters romped around our front yard fighting monsters and building castles. It was time for dinner but they were happily playing and our late snack of pretzels and almond butter held us over. Dusk stretched out and day light…
Beyond kids- Harriet, our family dog
I swore we weren’t going to have another dog until we were completely done with diapers. A different kind of pet, maybe. Though we never seemed to find one that felt “right” so we remained pet-free. Jeremy and I love dogs and the kids, particularly the 12 year old Storyteller, have been begging for a…