athesaurus.com

…breathe deeply and often…

  • Defensive Secrets

    I could handle. I could buy what they needed, but not the cool stuff. Kids don’t miss what they don’t know.” Read more

  • “It was twenty years ago today…”

    Sometimes a shouting match ended with a loud barking. Dodger didn’t allow the boys to argue.  Read more

  • Rainbow Sails

    This is soooooo political. Not pro Trump at all. Read more

  • Twin Angels

    We were just about the most normal and boring single parent family in the world. Read more

  • Traffic Stop Fundraiser

    Everything in that car made me look guilty of something. I saw the cop look inside.  Read more

  • End of Spring Break

    I have to go back to work today. I’ve enjoyed being off all week and posting daily. I got to participate in my morning writing group for the last ten days, it was wonderful to be able to write in community. For almost two years, we’ve been writing together, it’s such a joy when I… Read more

  • Norris and the Easter Bunny

    Norris heard the rustling in the living room last night before I did. Thinking the worst, he leapt out of bed, and snagged my cheek with his back claw, narrowly missing my eye. Blood poured from the gash he left. There would be a scar. Dammit Norris. While he hotfooted it to the stirring in…

  • The Shade Room

    I am simple. I go to my shade room. It would be a sun room if there were no giant oaks and holly trees covering its porch and backyard. Moss, hostas, ferns and begonias grow there, as well as my bed of impatiens. Mint, the plant that’s supposed to take over the planet struggles. But…

  • Eavesdropping

    “Martha, I told you I would be late. I’m sorry you’ve got to put the kids to bed by yourself again tonight, I just got on the bus. I can’t teleport very well,” I could tell this well dressed, dark haired, professional dude, with the chiseled chin sitting beside me on the bus was in…

  • Kindness of Strangers

    Thank God for the kindness of strangers. Little mercies we are grateful for that we often take for granted, like someone holding the door when our arms are full. They’re rarely there at 6:00 a.m. I had my arms full. My teacher bag was draped across my left arm with my coffee in my hand,…

  • Tornado Sirens

    I was so glad to be home. The kids at school couldn’t have jumped any higher or harder on my last nerves. Our classroom was big enough to accommodate three times as many students, between their loud voices and their perpetually moving bodies they took up every square inch of it. Getting them in their…