Family

A Mom’s Beach Day Wish Comes True

Kathy StevensonLeave a comment

(Originally published in the Christian Science Monitor, July 8, 1999)

It was one of those rare days at the beach. The humidity was low, the temperature hovered right around 80 degrees, the sky was washed with watercolor blues, and the flags snapped briskly over the boat harbor. Lake Michigan was quiet and waveless, and even the water temperature had risen above the frigid level to merely bone-chilling.

So what was wrong with this picture?

Actually, everything was right. I had finally reached that nirvana of motherhood – that fantasyland that mothers of young children only dream of. My adolescent children, who had accompanied me to the beach, had run off with their friends as soon as we’d arrived. I was alone.
I could reach into my canvas beach bag and read a book or magazine uninterrupted. I could roll over and nap. I could buy myself an ice cream and not have to share it. I could float lazily on a raft, write a short story, reinvent my life. Continue reading →

In Springtime… A Little Madness

Kathy StevensonLeave a comment

(Originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer 2/29/08.)

It is a few more weeks until the vernal equinox, when daylight hours and nighttime become approximately the same length of time. And although it seems we haven’t had a real winter here in Philadelphia yet (and I say yet because we could and most likely will still get walloped), I, for one, am already anticipating spring’s arrival. Just this past week, the tender green tips of daffodils planted outside my back door poked brave shoots out through the still frigid ground. Just the sight of those intrepid sprouts made something stir in me. Some hankering – some yearning that will be fulfilled as soon as I have some sun on my back and some dirt on my hands. I long to be in the garden.
There are certain things I do like about winter. I love being by a blazing fire on a blustery, blizzardy Sunday with all the Sunday papers and some books and magazines and hot chocolate lined up at the ready. I love it for about a day or two. And therein lies the problem. Winter is simply too long. Or maybe it needs to be long, so that we do anticipate spring with the proper reverence. Maybe the whole deal with winter is that it is hard, like much of life, and then when the easy, breezy days of spring and summer come, we feel rewarded somehow, like we’ve earned something. Continue reading →

Minding Your Manners: A Political Balancing Act

Kathy StevensonLeave a comment

(First appeared in The Beach Reporter on 9/19/91, but still somehow applicable today…)

Once upon a time, actually not that long ago, rules of etiquette were set in stone. There were things you did in public, and things you didn’t. You didn’t breastfeed a baby in a restaurant, you smoked wherever you wanted, and a man always held the door open for a woman and paid the check.

When a man held the door open it was seen as a matter of courtesy. Now it is an act fraught with potential political overtones. Is he holding the door open because he thinks I’m the weaker sex, and therefore need help? Do I sail through the door graciously, murmuring an appreciative thank you? Or do I give him a power stare, grab the door out of his hands, and say, “I could rip this door off its hinges, and feed it to you for lunch, chauvinist pig.”

Continue reading →

The Legacy of Growing Up Poor

Kathy StevensonLeave a comment

(Originally appeared in The Beach Reporter on 3/18/93)

Most people I know who grew up poor seem to have two distinct sides to their personalities as adults. There is the side that wants to achieve things or buy things just because they can. The toy car that one never had as a child becomes the Porsche sitting in the garage. The fully stocked freezer is security against ever going hungry.

Then there is the flip side. The side that is always looking for a bargain, clipping coupons, not buying something until the old one wears out.

When I was growing up my mother was an inveterate coupon clipper. She had a filing system for her coupons that would put the Library of Congress to shame. My dad used to jokingly call her “Coupon Annie.” I would roll my eyes and die of embarrassment every time she pulled out her coupon file in the supermarket. Continue reading →