We pulled through town and turned off the main thoroughfare, crossing the railroad tracks as we’ve always done and driving up the hill. . As it has for well over a century, the little old house sat there stoically as life moved on around it. Surrounded by streets on all three sides, it is its own little island fortress in the heart of a small town in Arkansas. Mena was incorporated in 1896, and the little old house witnessed the vast majority of the town’s ebbing and flowing as it soldiered on ... View Post
In Defense Of The Blurry Ones
At a recent holiday gathering, my eleven year old temporarily owned an array of miscellaneous items during a white elephant exchange. Before it was swiped away by a family member, she examined her spoils and found an unused disposable camera. In an effort to identify the strange item, she read the packaging and still appeared completely perplexed. Several children of the 70s and 80s tried to explain to my little millennial that there was a time when people used cameras with film in them, and ... View Post
At The Beach
We were heading to the beach, and it felt like going to see an old friend. There is a goodness to revisiting a place you've been before, because the familiarity adds a layer of calm and knowing anticipation. We knew the landscape as it unfolded, and we saw it in a way that felt reassuring. "Oh yes!" we chorused enthusiastically. "There is that town, or that object, or that look the sky has about it when you cross from Alabama into Florida and it feels like a place that you know." A familiar ... View Post
Tackling Texas
Our last family vacation was a road trip from northwest Arkansas to Galveston, Texas for a family reunion. Along the way we spent several days in Houston, which is a fun and very affordable city with lots of family-friendly sights and activities. Here are some highlights from our adventures: After staying the night in my Dad's childhood home in Texarkana (I've written extensively in the past about our treks up and down Highway 71 between the far northwest and southwest corners of ... View Post
A Cutting Confession (archives)
This post appeared on The Little Magpie in November 2011. The thing about dads is that the good ones are silent, steady and striking in their parenting. Their tactics sort of sneak up on you. I, for example, am a rather predictable mom. And, my mom was also fairly predictable in her expectations of me (although by no means ordinary or predictable overall, as you may have noted if you read last month’s posts on The Glamorous Glennis). My Dad’s best parenting successes snuck up on me. I can ... View Post
On Fathers and Daughters and Chess
As a pre-teen girl (before I was too cool for these sorts of things), I suffered through many a chess match with my father. We toiled for what seemed like hours after dinner over the wooden board, and the most exasperating part was the realization that he knew my every move before me. There was nothing like that pregnant pause when I made (or started to make) a move, and he would say “Are you sure?” Well, drat. No, I wasn’t - I was rash and going for the win, of course. Years later, I ... View Post
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