Thanks to my lack of organizational skills, we left my daughter Elfie's 9th birthday party planning until the very last minute. Not a big deal if my husband and I weren't insane. Unfortunately, we've set a precedent of throwing wildly fantastical theme parties for her birthday, complete with treasure hunts that involve multiple adult actors [...]

So today, Jasper fell out of the car. Just to be clear, Jasper isn't our kid -- he's our one-year-old Lab/Finnish Lapphund. And we weren't going very fast. Fortunately, we were driving back from a walk in the woods on a small, paved service road. Jasper likes to stick his head out the window like [...]

On September 15th, my 24-year-old cousin drowned at Lake Almanor, California. Like every death in any tightly knit group of people, it's changed our family forever. I tried to write Logan's eulogy for someone else to read, but I couldn't. Apparently I'm incapable of writing words that are so personal to someone else's heart. Unfortunately, [...]

On September 15th, my cousin drowned at Lake Almanor, California. We essentially stayed up at the lake for more than a week, trying to find him. The following is what happened next.   On Monday, we packed up, winterized the cabin, and came home. I was so distracted during the drive that I kept missing [...]

On September 15th, my cousin drowned at Lake Almanor, California. This is day nine of my experiences during the week that followed.   We start to feel a sense of urgency. Search and Rescue has told us Logan would surface Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, and this is the final day. It feels like a giant clock [...]

On September 15th, my cousin drowned at Lake Almanor, California. This is day eight of my experiences during the week that followed.   I wake up to little girls laughing and the dog jumping on me. It looks like it’s about 5 a.m. It’s not 5 a.m. It’s closer to 7. But it’s cold and feels [...]

On September 15th, my cousin drowned at Lake Almanor, California. This is day seven of my experiences during the week that followed. My aunt calls. Search and Rescue isn’t on the lake. I go into minor freak-out mode and hear myself sounding a lot like Josh on the The West Wing. Or my uncle from Chicago. [...]

On September 15th, my cousin drowned at Lake Almanor, California. This is day six of my experiences during the week that followed. I wake up holding my daughter who’s crawled into bed with me in the middle of the night because of a bad dream. I don’t want to get up. I feel like someone’s given [...]

On September 15th, my cousin drowned at Lake Almanor, California. This is day five of my experiences during the week that followed.   We figure it out. My husband switches shifts, my friend is going to pick up the kids, I’m frantically doing laundry, and I’ll be able to head back up to the lake. Then [...]