confessions of a reformed tourist
The thing about being young is that you can’t imagine forgetting.
You can’t imagine that you won’t remember the name of that Italian movie, the one that takes place right after the war, the one where soldiers who aren’t supposed to be soldiers are slogging through a marsh, not knowing who they’re supposed to shoot because [...]
“You may call me Bean or Honey. And I will call you María.”
He spoke those words to me yesterday, in response to my saying, “Joaquín! Don’t climb on the kitchen table, please!”
A few hours later he told me that he and his grandmother went for a walk to the pond. I asked, “Oh, you [...]
I have a long, clumsy history of screwing up my feet. Like the time I went camping and stepped on a rusty nail. Or the time I walked barefoot into the Hudson River and stepped on a broken bottle. And then there was the Donnie Wahlberg incident, wherein I decided to dismantle the cheap-o frame [...]
This photo of my mother was taken in 1970. She was a year out of college and teaching biology at Cathedral High School in New York City. She was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana. Living in Manhattan was an enormous challenge for her. That first winter, she tells me, she got herself a [...]
I swear, every time I think he’s gotten as gorgeous as one human being can possibly get, he goes and kicks the bar higher. And yeah, I’m his mother so clearly I’m biased, but I also know empirical beauty when I see it.
Bean and I had a fantastic time taking these. My dad got him [...]
The other day I caught Bean behind the DVD player, mucking about with the power cords.
I freaked.
Jack! What do you think you’re doing!
Fixing the plugs, Mommy.
WHAT? You don’t fix plugs! You don’t TOUCH plugs! You know that’s dangerous! I’ve told you about electricity! You never ever ever touch those cords! Don’t you know how [...]
Bean has developed a bad habit.
When I’m speaking and he wants to be speaking he just yells over me.
He did this this morning at the breakfast table. I’ve told him before that this is rude and he should not be rude to his mommy, blah blah blah. But today I decided to ask him “why”.
“Because, [...]
Yesterday around 4PM I decided to have a little rest before I started on my cheesecake mission. I woke up an hour ago.
Bean stood right in front of my face.
“Good morning, Mommy,” he whispered.
“Good morning, honey.”
“I love you.” At this point it becomes obvious that we’ve been working on his waking-up-Mommy skills, which had previously [...]
If you’re three and a half years old and were born in the Caribbean, you figure snow only exists in movies.
And then when for the first time you see snow fall? With your very own eyes?
Magic.
The other day I realized that Bean’s favorite pair of jeans was suddenly too short for him. Like two inches too short. And I actually had him put on something else because it was bugging me that I could see his ankles.
This morning while getting Bean dressed for school, it became clear that all of [...]