Just as I’m falling asleep, book slipping from my slackening grip, I hear the sounds from the kitchen downstairs. A clatter, a slam. I raise my head, disoriented. But then I hear his voice. It is just my son, cooking at midnight again. This strange pandemic summer, my children have…

The trip was supposed to be in June 2020. We had planned it for two years, a long-awaited return to the country my family loved. Everything was booked — flights, hotels, camping arrangements. But as the months ticked by from March to April to May, the idea of a big…

Why so many of us have Olivia Rodrigo’s debut on repeat. — This is not an album review. People get confused sometimes when I write about music, assuming that I’m critiquing a new album or single as an impartial journalist. I’m going to be honest — I don’t know how to do that. I only know if something grabs me by the…

On Mother’s Day, I’m thinking fondly of all the time my mother didn’t spend in the kitchen. — The comfort foods of my childhood can be found in the frozen foods aisle. Stouffer’s tuna noodle casserole, Stouffer’s French bread pizza. A few aisles over, in canned foods, Chef Boyardee’s mini ravioli, Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, Spaghetti-O’s with meatballs. Some people have to track down old family recipes or…

We could see the finish line — and then we hit a speed bump. — It’s hard to measure exactly when the pandemic started. Or rather, when it started to impact our daily lives, and when its grave potential began to hit home. But for me, as for many Americans, March 13, 2020 was the Last Normal Day. It was the last day my children…

Playing a sport isn’t the only way for kids to exercise. — Some kids take off running with their first steps. They’re climbing things and riding things and bouncing around, making the most of every opportunity to move their bodies. Parents of those kids typically worry about broken bones and scraped knees. And those naturally active kids often go on to sign…

For ballet, it may be too late. For writing, it never is. — I was 13 when I got my first rejection from The New Yorker. Most bookish adults have a story about getting in trouble for reading as child — in class, or at a party. I don’t recall that happening to me, maybe because I was a child of bookish people…

Wireless wasn’t the improvement I hoped. — I should begin with a caveat that the AirPods I currently own are not the latest and greatest version. It is quite possible that if I had the AirPods Pro or, well, anything besides the first generation model that I have, I might feel differently. But I don’t think so…

A love letter to my morning routine. — Every morning, the first task I give my struggling-from-sleep brain is to solve a Sudoku. My body may have stumbled through some simple things like waking the children, mumbling good morning to my husband, and pouring coffee. But my brain isn’t capable yet of truly reading the news or replying…