To my daughters You were born from my heart, A bond so thick a lion’s fangs could not cut the cord of our connection. To my daughters You were born from my heart, When I see you, I see myself. When I hear you laugh, I hear your dad. When I watch your tears fall, I taste salt. To my daughters You were born from my heart, Though our DNA is different, We are and will forever be, one . We catch each other’s eye We smirk at each other’s tones Because there is a knowing that settles us both deep...

My best friend in middle school used to order an ice cream sandwich every single day in the school cafeteria. I can still picture it so clearly -- the outdated tile floors and the royal blue pull-down, picnic-style tables that folded out from the cinder-block wall, overlooking the basketball court below. She’d go through the lunch line (wearing her Delia's corduroy skirt) after finishing her packed-from-home lunch, come back to the table with her ice cream sandwich… then casually smear a...

This past weekend, I went away on a little writing retreat with a dear, old friend who now lives in Charleston. It was exactly what my soul didn't know it needed. We talked. We ate delicious Thai food. We exercised. We drank good coffee. We slept in. We perused Target. We wrote. Mostly, we exhaled. We sat in our own quiet writing spaces, side by side, and just… breathed again. We ended up talking a lot about pace. About how, between motherhood, writing projects, work, family responsibilities,...