The Mom Weekly

Category: Weekly Newsletter

  • The Sunday Tramps

    The Sunday Tramps

    The Mom Weekly Volume 80: February 18, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    The Sunday Tramps

    Last month, I finished a wonderful book from the library: The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary by Sarah Ogilvie. The book tells the story of the thousands of unpaid volunteers from around the world recruited by James Murray, one of the first editors of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Each chapter tells of one category of volunteers, based on a letter of the alphabet. For instance, “A for Archaeologist,” “F for Families,” “O for Outsiders.”

    The “T” chapter is “T for Tramps, the Sunday” and is worth some explaining. 

    The “Sunday Tramps,” was coined by Leslie Stephen, a writer who also happened to be the father of Virginia Woolf. He gathered a group of intellectual men (“tramp” being a term at the time for ‘walking excursion.’) who met every other Sunday for long (up to 25 miles) walks (and conversation) in the countryside around London. Stephen was known as the “Captain of the Tramps.”

    I thought at first: I would love to have a group like that! However, I don’t think my local hiking women friends would like the name much? Also, I don’t think I would have fit in very well with this male-only group, who were atheistic and walked on Sunday in defiance of honoring “the Sabbath.”

    And then I came across this long passage about Murray being an avid hiker, and why he, too, would not have made him a good member of the Sunday Tramps. Here it is:

    Murray’s Christian conviction would never have allowed him to join the Sunday Tramps in their sabbath-defying hikes. Walking in nature was for him a religious experience, an act of devotion, which went back to a mystical experience the had when he was thirty-eight years old. Murray was on his annual holiday with Ada and their young family at Easedale in the Lake District. Early one evening, he went out walking alone in the mountains, in anticipation of rate rising of the full moon. As night began to fall, he got lost. The moon had not yet risen, he fell in the darkness and badly injured his foot but kept on going. Scrambling down a steep incline, he reached an expanse of deep black in futon of him. He stopped and suddenly realized that he was in great danger, and clung to a heather tussock on a precipice overhanging the lake far below.

    Writing in his diary afterwards, he explained, “I could myself do nothing but one thing. I dropped to my knees on the heather tussock on which I stood and earnestly besought God to guide me in this, one of the most dangerous emergencies of my life.” He got up and went to walk in one direction, but a strong feeling told him to turn around and go the opposite way. This decision, he believed, saved his life. “I have absolutely no explanation save that it was God’s answer to my prayer and such I have ever felt it. One does not proclaim these things from the housetops; they are too sacred. But they are among the most profound convictions of one’s soul; and, many a time since then, may faith in the Invisible has been restored by remembering my experience at Easedale Tarn.”

    Murray’s belief in God sustained him throughout his work on the Dictionary. On his seventieth birthday, he gave a speech which reflected his lifelong devotion: “The Dictionary is to me .. the work that God has found for me and for which I now see that my sharpening of intellectual tools was done and became to me a high and sacred devotion.”

    Murray’s religious beliefs, his lack of formal education, and his different social class are some of the reasons why he was not a member of the Sunday Tramps.

    ——-———

    Isn’t that just wonderful? I hope you noticed that he got injured hiking in the Lake District, like I did last year. And I am so, so very glad that I wasn’t alone, and he was not alone, and that I was taken care of so well. But, as Murray would say about experiences like this “one does not proclaim these things from the housetop; they are too sacred.”

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    Interesting/Notable:

    When Paying More Tax, Not Less, is the Smart Play (gift article unlocked)

    This is such an interesting topic, at least to me! I always say to Dad, “It’s a good problem to have to pay taxes.”

    I was lost in the cesspit of social media. Then Jane Austen showed me the way out—The Guardian 

    “My brain got into the rhythm of the denser text at more or less the same time as I worked out who all the characters were (it helped to have seen Clueless several times), and suddenly I was … enjoying Austen. The chapter openings are consistently great, the asides are savage, and the social critiques are delivered in a flurry of bon mots. There’s a bit where a character goes to London for a haircut and everyone else is so bracingly mean about it, I laughed out loud in a cafe.”

    An Action Item: Consider Maxing Out Your 2025 Roth IRA

    Hear me out!

    As I’ve written about before:

    Probably one of the best financial things you can do for “future you” is add to your Roth IRA. If you haven’t opened one? Read the “action item” section here about how to open a Roth IRA.

    Not for the first time will you hear that one of my big regrets is not maximizing Roths when we were younger. Roths have only been around since 1998, but I could have rolled over old IRA money into a Roth decades ago. (And I have started gradually rolling over some money each year from IRAs into my Roth).

    The maximum Roth contribution for 2025 for most people under 50 is $7,000 (see this page for details). You may or may not have $7,000 hanging around to put into a Roth, but even if you have part of it, wouldn’t you be glad that you did it early? That way, at the end of the year, you can look back and see that you have already checked that item off your list.

    Even if you don’t have the amount right now, consider using some or all of your tax refund to go towards your Roth IRA.

    I’ve explained to some of you how you can consider or use your Roth as your emergency fund. That’s because you can always, penalty free, take the money that you have put into your Roth IRA. (It’s the earnings that are “locked up” until age 59.5)

    Here’s an article explaining how that might work.

    If you make more than $153,000 and you filing single, or $228,000 married filing jointly, you can’t contribute directly to a Roth. 

    If that is you, so-called “Backdoor Roths” are a good possibility. Read about how to do that in this article.

    If you need help in the next few days doing some of this, I’m happy to help. Just let me know!

  • The Ball in My Head (From the Vault, July 2009)

    The Ball in My Head (From the Vault, July 2009)

    The Mom Weekly Volume 79: February 11, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    Notes:

    I was actually looking for something else when this post popped up, and I laughed and laughed all over again. Please enjoy!

    Also, today is the birthday of my youngest sister and one of your aunts, so be sure to wish her a happy birthday! It is also Our Lady of Lourdes, and World Day of the Sick.

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    The Ball in My Head (From the Vault: July 2009)

    Earlier this week, Max had a “feber” as he used to like to say, and was quiet and under the weather for a day or so. At several times he talked about “the ball in my head,” as in, “Mommy, the ball in my head hurts when I cough” or “I have a ball in my head.” It means a headache. It’s actually a really good image.

    This is similar to his regular question “how many motors do you have?” to ask how much energy you are feeling. “Mom, how many motors do you have? I have 100!!” to which I reply, “A lot, but not 100.”

    This morning, in my continuing “training” for the Seattle sprint distance triathlon in a month (I’ll be doing it with my sisters), I ran 3 miles, and then decided to go to a fitness class at the gym. We joined this gym that our family joined in May so I could swim laps. We’ve all enjoyed going to the pool, and taking advantage of the gym and the classes.

    On Monday, I attended my first Body Pump class. Fortunately a friend who belongs to the gym went along with me and introduced me to the instructor. There were a few of us first-timers, in a fairly large class of women of all ages at the noon class It is basically an aerobic weight-lifting class, and exactly what I need because I don’t lift weights and can’t seem to figure out the machines. Lifting weights is good for building strength and endurance and preventing injuries, all things I’m for. The class was truly enjoyable, and I chatted with my friend, the ladies around me, and the instructor afterwards.

    Today’s about the first day I wasn’t too sore to consider going again. It was suggested that suggest you try to do Body Pump twice a week.

    This morning, what a difference! Same music, same routine. But huge, huge numbers of people, lots of age ranges though mostly in the 20s. There were a majority of men, some even around my age. Some couples of various sizes and ages. I thought, maybe I will try to get Sir to attend one of these with me, as it is really a good workout.

    The only problem I encountered at first was I wondered about club etiquette of where to place my weights and mat, etc., since there was so little room in the gym half. The class was taught by a man/woman team. Were they married? Dating? Don’t know, even though they were chit-chatting back and forth the whole hour because once it started the MUSIC WAS SO UNBELIEVABLY LOUD I COULDN’T HEAR A THING.

    The instructions, the banter about their kayaking trip (maybe?) —at least that’s what I THINK they were talking about—COMPLETELY DROWNED OUT in music about 10x louder than the weekday class.

    I looked around, but no one else seemed to NOTICE. During the break times between types of exercise, I literally put my hands over my ears. At one point the male instructor turned down the music to talk about form in a particular exercise, and I thought, please, for the love of all that is good, please keep the volume there. But no, once he screamed, “IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE,” he turned up the music even louder than before, if that is possible.

    I left the class with my muscles well-worked, my ears ringing, and a firm resolution to never attend the 8 a.m. Saturday class EVER AGAIN.

    I called one of my sisters on the way home to chat and said, “If it seems like I’m screaming, here’s why,…” and she screamed, “Okay!”. On purpose, I didn’t call the sister who thinks I speak too loud sometimes. You know who you are 🙂

    When I got home, I told Sir that the ball in my head hurt. He reported that before he had his coffee, Max sought his help putting together something Lego, and that gave him a ball in his head. The coffee helped.

    Interesting/Notable:

    Twelve Dudes and a Hype Tunnel: Scenes from the ‘Super Bowl for Excel Nerds’ –NY Times gift link.

    Nerd alert! Nerd alert! Spreadsheet competition! This is wonderful.

    The Agony of Adoring Online Dogs—NY Times gift link

    I know many of us have followed Norbert, and this article features him prominently. A sweet read.

    An Action Item: Consider Filing An Extension for Your Tax Return (even if you plan to file it on time)

    This is such an interesting concept, and something I had never heard of before. 

    Basically, this tax attorney explains how you can prevent getting an IRS notice years after you made a mistake on your taxes. This is just a little over 7 minutes—well worth watching. My takeaway from this is to check my IRS transcript, and to file an extension 

    How to Avoid An IRS Notice—Jasmine DiLucci

  • “It took bad words to qualify what had happened.”

    “It took bad words to qualify what had happened.”

    The Mom Weekly Volume 78: February 4, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    Notes

    I am very glad that we could celebrate Pride & Prejudice Day last week, which also gave me a head start on this week’s TMW, since I had already written it. But another week allowed time to find another article to add to the “interesting/notable” section related to today’s theme, so it all worked out.

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    “It took bad words to qualify what had happened.”

    “What’s the matter? What’s the matter?” the children asked him all at once. He flung himself on Ralph, burying his face in the other boy’s coat, and sobbed out some disjointed story which only Ralph could hear … and then, as last and final climax of the disaster, who should come looking over the shoulders of the children but Uncle Henry and Mr. Pond! And ’Lias all ragged and dirty again! Betsy sat down weakly on a pile of wood, utterly disheartened. What was the use of anything!

    “What’s the matter?” asked the two men together.

    Ralph turned, with an angry toss of his dark head, and told them bitterly, over the heads of the children: “He just had some decent clothes. … First ones he’s ever had! And he was plotting on going to the exercises in the Town Hall. And that darned old skunk of a stepfather has gone and taken ’em and sold ’em to get whiskey. I’d like to kill him!”

    Betsy could have flung her arms around Ralph, he looked so exactly the way she felt. “Yes, he is a darned old skunk!” she said to herself, rejoicing in the bad words she did not know before. It took bad words to qualify what had happened.

    —Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood Betsy

    Understood Betsy is one of the lesser known but finest children’s novels of the 20th century. Dorothy Canfield Fisher was a feminist, an education reformer (she was one of the earliest to bring Montessori methods to the US), and, obviously, a terrific writer. (In the last year or so, I read The Home-Maker and wow: was she ahead of her time).

    In the novel, Elizabeth Ann (Betsy), is sent away to her “dreaded” Putney cousins when her Aunt has to go away to recover from an unspecified illness. How she slowly becomes her own person, develops a strong constitution, and becomes a strong young woman, is the story of the novel. It has a lot of elements of Montessori education, and how Betsy learns what learning is for—to become a well-rounded adult, rather than just “passing from one grade to another.”

    If you haven’t read Understood Betsy before, it is available for free on Project Gutenberg. And if you have an iPhone, you can send a copy to your iBooks app).

    Rejoicing in the bad words

    I often think about the (para)phrase “it takes bad words to qualify what happened” when I read or hear about something particularly awful in the news.

    The “bad words” Betsy learns are “darned old skunk.” While I can think of even “worse” bad words, the phrase “darned old skunk” certainly fills in for describing the evil deeds of bad people.

    Initially I planned to share this Louise Perry article in the “interesting/notable” section, and I was trying to word a “content warning” because it’s pretty heavy. And then I thought about Betsy’s “rejoicing in bad words” to describe a bad man.

    What Women Need—Louise Perry on Maiden Mother Matriarch

    This itself is a fascinating read from one of Perry of Maiden Mother Matriarch, one of the most incisive writers out there today (here’s her bio). (Side note:May I just say that I pre-ordered “The Case Against the Sexual Revolution” months ahead of its US release, because I happened upon the UK version doing podcast research on a completely different topic. That also is a tremendous read, and I believe my oldest child has it in her apartment, if anyone wants to borrow it!).

    So read this story, especially Perry’s take on the situation, which I share. I also read the Kat Rosenfeld piece she references, and it left me somewhat dissatisfied. Reading what Perry had to say helped me to solidify a more nuanced response.

    Can we use the term “darned old skunk” (or whatever choice bad words we want to use) to describe this evil man? Yes, yes, of course we can. There is a time to rejoice in bad words.

    Interesting/Notable:

    Apropos of today’s post, there are two recent free articles by Claire Swinarsk of Letters from a Catholic Feminist. If you could only read one, read the first. I so appreciate getting to support gifted and hardworking writers.

    If You Want to Stop Trafficking ….
    The Persistence of Bro-Choice Feminism

    An Action Item: Check Your Passport Renewal Date

    I was about to sign up for the UK “electronic travel authorization” (it became a requirement this month). And then I saw that my passport expires in less than a year. Since I plan for some foreign travel this year, I decided to renew my passport right now.

    The reason for this is that some countries, I think the UK among them, and many European countries, will not allow you to stay there if your passport expires in less than six months. And I am getting close to that!

    Fortunately, I am eligible to renew online, but the photo requirements are quite the challenge. I will succeed in getting a correct photo (no glasses! Light background! Etc) and submitting it soon, but I encourage you to check your own passport renewal and take care of it this week. You know that you will be glad that you did!

  • Happy Pride & Prejudice Day

    Happy Pride & Prejudice Day

    The Mom Weekly Volume 77: January 28, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the website here. https://themomweekly.com/

    Notes:

    I had another newsletter ready to go this week, that I really want to share!

    But I noticed very late that today is “Pride & Prejudice” Day! It’s the 212th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s beloved novel.

    And since 2025 is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth (her birthday is December 16), there will doubtless be several newsletters this year that center on her.

    Remember how much I love Jane Austen, and also how much I love you!

    Mom

    Happy Pride & Prejudice Day

    Let’s take a little detour, shall we, to enjoy an especially wonderful exchange from Chapter 56 of Pride & Prejudice. This exchange is between the haughty Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Elizabeth Bennet. This is towards the end of Pride & Prejudice. I initially was going to have the entire exchange as text in this newsletter, but I realized that this scene 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride & Prejudice captures virtually every word.

    So here it is!

    Now, some fun and funny recent P&P related social media. I promise you that these are really worth watching for some comic relief.

    What I mean when I say I like club remixes:

    Jake Phillips, the “Country Bumpkin” who records audiobooks for his YouTube channel of classics read in a Southern accent. Wonderful!

    Finally, is a rendition of a portion of “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes. I have such a vivid memory of Ideagirl memorizing this for declamation back in grade school. Some of the rest of us can still recite at least “The highwayman came riding, riding, riding, the highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.”

    Interesting/Notable:

    52 Places to Go in 2025 (NY Times Gift Article)

    Note the first location!!! I really hope to make this happen in 2025.

    An Action Item: Get Started on Your Taxes

    Yes, it’s getting to be that time of year… I hope you each have a physical folder that you can refer to to complete your taxes. I prefer to print out the 1099s and similar forms that we get, but usually I can upload them directly to my tax software.

    You don’t have to finish your taxes, but gathering your materials is a good first step. I will actually have another tax-related tip in February, so you may want to hold off on actually filing, even if you are ready. But if your taxes are relatively simple, go ahead and file, and you will have that off your plate.

  • In Praise of the “Completed” List

    In Praise of the “Completed” List

    The Mom Weekly Volume 76: January 21, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    In Praise of the “Completed” List

    I’m sure I am not the only one who has multiple running to-do lists. I have mine both in my head and written down, either on paper or in my treasured ToDoist app.

    I am that person who adds things to her to do list after completing, so that I can cross them off. It’s that satisfying for me.

    And yet, I often feel like I’m not really making progress, especially when it comes to things around the house. Part of that is the nature of keeping a household running smoothly. If you vacuum, it’s going to need it again very soon, and it’s not quite as satisfying as a one-and-done project. But as I go through the house, I typically see things that I keep “meaning” to do, from touching up paint, to organizing a room, and so on. Whenever I’m going around the house, I find myself saying, “I need to get to … (insert small project here).”

    Over the last week, I’ve accomplished three small projects that happen to be related. And I realized, not for the first time, how celebrating our small accomplishments helps to make you happier and more productive.

    Here’s the story: Months ago, I purchased a top-down/bottom-up shade (like this one)  to go in Dad’s library. He wanted the ability to see the sky but also giving him some privacy. We kept saying to each other, “We have to put that shade up.”

    Finally, we set upon a time earlier last week. (That’s another tip—scheduling a time to do a specific project greatly increases the chances you will get to it!). And while Dad went through some things and books in his office, I took off the old shade, and installed the new one, without too much drama. Because I don’t do it very often, I read the instructions really carefully and spent extra time. It felt great to accomplish it!

    I saved the shade in order to install it in the garage, where there was a window without a shade. I put the shade on top of the dryer in the laundry room, and made a mental note to get to it “soon.” 

    The Plot Thickens

    A couple of mornings later, I was opening the floral shade in the laundry room. You may remember it had a weird cord to raise and lower the shade. And … it broke. I was so annoyed! 

    I got out the ladder to take a look at it, and see if I could fix it. It was the oddest contraption, and took awhile to disassemble. And, for good or ill, it could not be fixed, which kind of made me glad.

    I was heading out, and so stopped at Menard’s and get a new shade. They had one just like I wanted.

    When I got home, I started to work on installing it. Feeling confident from my installation of the library shade, I promptly installed the brackets upside down. So annoying! 

    When I discovered my mistake, I also realized that the screws that came with the shade were those evil screws that immediately “strip” when you start to install them (even though I was using a manual screwdriver, not an electric drill). So getting them off was quite the ordeal, and I was cursing whoever creates those awful screws!!!

    Fortunately, I was able to find “just” enough high-quality screws in our tool box , and installed the brackets correctly, put up the shade, and consigned the awful fasteners to the trash.

    And then, I told myself, I am not going to wait another minute to install that shade in the garage, because I don’t want to forget how to do it! I was able to install that shade correctly, and in much less time as the first two, because I had the memory of how to do it.

    The “Things I’ve Completed” Photo Album

    After this was all completed, I took photos to memorialize all my great work (see several of the photos in this week’s graphic). And then I realized how happy it made me to do that. 

    So, that’s the plan in coming weeks. I will take a before/ after photo of different projects that I want to do, and then celebrate them.

    To aggregate these, there is a new album in my Photos called “Things I’ve Completed.” I’m going to come up with a better name for it, but I don’t like the typical expression “Ta-Da List” l. If you have any better suggestions for what to call it, I want to know! And let me know good things that you have accomplished.

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    Interesting/Notable: 

    Fighting the Devil with a Spatula—Meredith Hinds

    I’m not sure how I came across this article. But it’s related to what I wrote this week, a great reminder that the “small steps” are a great way to complete things. And that thanking yourself for taking them is a good (and spiritual) practice! Here’s an excerpt:

    So, what small step could I take regarding small steps? Well, in my fancy new 2025 planner, the first resolution I wrote down was, “I will honor small steps.”

    Then I realized how much I sounded like a yoga instructor. Honor? By doing what? I scratched that out and wrote, “I will thank myself for taking small steps.”

    This is a trip. You should try it.

    “Thank you for throwing away three eggshells.”

    “Thank you for picking up the paper scrap off the floor.”

    “Thank you for making the bed.”

    I didn’t realize how little positive internal feedback I had going around upstairs until I really started making a point of it.

    An Action Item: Drink A Big Glass of Water First Thing in the Morning

    Everyone knows how much I enjoy drinking water, but the cold weather recently has made drinking water less appealing for me. This is probably because I love my water with ice, and it just isn’t as much fun to drink when it’s below zero outside! But staying hydrated, especially in colder, drier weather, with dry heat, is even more important this time of year.

    I was having some digestive and other symptoms recently, and I thought it could be from not drinking enough water. So I’ve made a point the last week or so to drink an eight-ounce glass of water (or two) first thing in the morning. It has really helped, and I encourage you to do the same.

  • So A Man Can Stand Up (From the Vault[Replay], January 22, 2009)

    So A Man Can Stand Up (From the Vault[Replay], January 22, 2009)

    The Mom Weekly Volume 75, January 14, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    Notes:

    I actually had this “From the Vault” ready to replay for next week, but then I looked up the actual day of the inauguration, and rather than be “behind the news,” I decided to move the publication date up.

    If you are having deja vu, it’s because I ran this same “From the Vault” one year ago. But I thought it was even more apropos this year, when we have an inauguration. And I absolutely stand by what I wrote one year ago, and 16 years ago. We really do live in the greatest country in the world. So I’m calling it a “From the Vault (Replay).”

    “So a Man Can Stand Up” (From the Vault “Replay,” January 22, 2009)

    I saw this post when I was looking around at “likely ones” for “From the Vault” editions (see this post for the explanation). I could share from those blogging days, and I found this post from January 2009. For a minute, I was hesitant to share this reflection, from the inauguration and from the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Not everyone who reads The Mom Weekly shares my pro-life views, and I don’t want to make anyone feel bad or excluded from this.

    But no one is surprised to know that I’m still solidly pro-life (remember: I’m Team Baby !!!), and I’m not trying to change anyone’s views here. I love everyone in my extended family, and I try to be honest about where I’m coming from. At the same time, I can acknowledge and honor that other people have different views.

    But as I read through this old post, I thought: I would not change a single word. And I didn’t. And I am actually pretty proud of what I wrote, when I was 15 years younger and less mature than I am now!

    Even though a lot of things have happened since this time — and a lot has culturally changed (understatement!!!) — I feel more confident in what I wrote. I am still the goofy corny person who believes—even more so now—that we live in the greatest country in the world.

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    From the Vault: So a Man Can Stand Up (January 22, 2009)

    This year we are studying American history in our home, and corny or not, I keep thinking to myself and remarking to whoever is listening: we live in the greatest country in the world.

    I’m especially inspired by the bravery and the heroism and the intellectual power of the founders of our country. We’ve read tons of books about the American Revolution. I especially like the Jean Fritz ones; they are quick reads and so enjoyable.

    Last summer we listened to the audiobook of Esther Forbes’ Johnny Tremain on a trip to Ohio, and while it could be slow-moving at parts (thus I was so grateful for the long minivan ride), the overall effect was truly “living history,” a novel to help us experience and understand this period in history and some of the people who made it happen.

    I don’t want to give away the end of Johnny Tremain, so I won’t provide the whole context of this quote, but it was brought vividly to my mind this week:

    “You remember that night…that last meeting of the Observers. James Otis came, although we didn’t want him. I can’t remember much of what he said, but I remember how his words made the gooseskin on my arms.’

    ‘I’ll never forget it. He said..so a man can stand up.’

    ‘Yes. And some of us would die–so other men can stand up on their feet like men. A great many are going to die for that. They have in the past. They will a hundred years from now–two hundred. God grant there will always be men good enough.’

    Johnny Tremain was published and won the Newberry Medal in 1944. It was during the midst of World War II, when the Greatest Generation was serving and dying for these freedoms again. And still we have people good enough, who are willing to serve and protect our country and our world. How amazing. So that a man can stand up…

    We had a “television day” Tuesday, and watched the inauguration throughout the day. Apart from the fashions (that’s for another post!) I was teary through much of the traditions accompanying it. We have—not just a peaceful, but a gracious—transfer of power every time there is a new president.

    Other places in the world, even today, have civil war or unrest, coups or dictators. We have the first African-American president, a mere generation away from segregation and a time when it would have seemed impossible. I do not agree with so many policies of Obama, but I couldn’t stop the tears when he took the oath.

    Sir, on the way back from a meeting an hour from home and heading back to the office, stopped at home to watch the actual signing in. He was moved, and that got me teary again, especially by the words of the Reverend Joseph Lowery, the civil rights and spiritual leader who had seen so much, and suffered so much (Sir told me how Lowery was beaten and worse during the civil rights struggle), and yet lived to see this day and give the benediction. So that a man can stand up…

    Today we have another “television day” at our house, to watch live coverage of the March for Life (on EWTN). I am so happy kids got up early enough so we could go to Mass. Our wonderful pastor gave a wonderful reflection about being life-giving, rather than life-draining.

    Our kitchen is still a construction zone, so since work was underway when we came home from Mass, we went to McDonald’s for breakfast. While the kids were eating I read them, for the umpteenth time, Regina Doman’s luminous picture book, Angel in the Waters. I can’t ever read that book without crying, especially on the page, “Then there was light.”

    Homegirl asked why I was getting choked up, and probably thinking, but not saying, why are you crying a lot this week?. I told them that it made me emotional to remember having them as babies, and it made me emotional to see the angel on every page and realize we are surrounded by our own guardian angels, and it also made me emotional, on this day of penance, to realize how vulnerable babies are and how they need to be protected.

    And so I am bracing myself for what President Obama might do to promote or make abortion easier, and I am heavy of heart, and hoping and praying that he does not make it a high priority.

    It is likely that Obama will sign executive orders in favor of abortion—perhaps today—and nothing can really been done about it, except pray and work hard on issues we can, and to support and lift up in prayer those who are wounded by abortion, both those who speak out and those who remain silent.

    We can also be grateful for the tremendous gift of life, and cherish life, and be life-givers. And to remember that there is no liberty, no pursuit of happiness, without life. And we can: “imagine the possibilities….so a man can stand up.”

    Interesting/Notable:

    New Year’s Resolution: Bring Back the Aunties


    This is such a good idea. And honestly, older women are pretty awesome, and I don’t just think that because I am one.

    After Exam Controversy, Georgetown Law Student Urge Policy Change

    I shared this with my sisters in the Sisters Letterloop, but I thought it was worth sharing here as well, exactly as I shared it there!

    A dentist who attends my book group told the story of how she was not accommodated at all 12 years ago when she was pregnant with her first child in dental school (a doctor also shared her experiences around the same time). And that brought up this recent article in The Pillar about a Georgetown University law student who fought for accommodations, not just for herself, but for future students experiencing this. Really worth a read!

    Also, here is some of the backstory of the article from its author, Leah Libresco Sargent (she also linked to yet another fascinating article she wrote about current dating culture. She’s such a good writer!)

    An Action Item: Make some soup this week

    It’s been so cold here today and for the next few days. That has me thinking of soup. I am glad that I made My Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup. Now I want to make some other kind of soup. I encourage you to, as well!