Two years ago, every single cliche came to life the moment I laid eyes on my son. Or perhaps it was a few moments after that initial instant. Much like a new ship is christened with champagne, this new mom was sprayed with another yellow liquid. Thanks, kid. Growing up, I never once fantasized about … [Read more…]
The calendar invite notification chirped. There it sat in my mailbox. A 9:00 am meeting appointment for three days from now with my boss. No subject. No agenda. No explanation. Despite having just completed my summative evaluation where I earned the highest rankings, I automatically assumed I was about to be fired or transferred or … [Read more…]
When I first heard the term FIRE, I bristled. The more people I connected with in the FIRE community, the more I dug my heels in. In fact, when Ms. Our Next Life ran her Next Life series, “not for me” was the entire premise of my post (erm, spoiler alert?). And that seems to … [Read more…]
When I got married, I made the decision to keep my last name. I don’t know that I was railing against tradition so much as I was electing to keep something that had always been mine. Over the past four years, I’ve given many explanations as to why I kept my name. The red tape, the … [Read more…]
Not long ago, I proctored a high-stakes standardized test used in college admissions. At first, nothing was unusual. Students filed in, showed identification numerous times, left all belongings in the hallway besides soft lead number 2 pencils, testing tickets, and calculators, and shuffled to their seats. Tasked with the duty of checking every ticket against … [Read more…]