Category Archives: connection

Reflection on one year of yoga

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Just about a year ago, I attended my first yoga class.  I did not really know what to expect, but as a long time runner and cyclist, felt like I could handle whatever challenge was thrown at me.  I did … Continue reading →

Posted in community, connection, experience, growth, transformation | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

How craigslist connects us in the most unexpected ways

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

It has been almost a year since I caved into the allure of purchasing expensive in-home exercise equipment.  My aging ankles consigned me to elliptical machines at the gym, but my six-year olds seemed incompatible with an absentee mom, so … Continue reading →

Posted in children, community, connection, encounters, family, identity, Vietnam | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The accidental friends: unexpected gifts of adoption

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

One of the coincidences of being an adoptive parent is that almost automatically, you have a bond with other adoptive parents. Most of us have many stories to tell about the whys and hows of our choice to build families … Continue reading →

Posted in adoption, children, community, connection, family, friendship | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Bonnie — a woman who paved her own road

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

My mom’s friend Bonnie  died several years ago. She was only 59,  considerably older than my mom when she died, but still too young. I accidentally discovered that she had died when I posted about Glen Campbell‘s performance at the … Continue reading →

Posted in connection, experience, family, feminism, friendship, inspiration | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Intertextualizing five-year olds

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

I visited Monkey Man’s class yesterday, and his teachers shared with me his story dictation (parent helpers and teachers take dictation while the kids tell stories, and then later the class acts out the stories as they are read aloud). … Continue reading →

Posted in art, connection, education, family, lessons, movies | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

“Một con vịt”: what “sisters” teach

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

When Monkey Man and Gorilla Girl were three, we visited an older Vietnamese woman, Nu, who taught them a little Vietnamese–counting from one to ten, the words for airplane, dog and duck. Nu also was a surrogate grandmother who fed … Continue reading →

Posted in adoption, connection, corn, family, food, identity, language, lessons, teaching, Tet, tradition | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Kin in the kitchen

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Thanks to Hanna for the inspiration — her A to Z holiday photo montage kicked my brain into gear. My cousin and his mom (that makes her my aunt) visited us today, and as we sat around the dinner table, … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, community, connection, family, holidays, memory, nostalgia, tradition | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

When inspiration fails

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Ironically, my good friend, fellow blogger, and novelist, Deb Hanrahan, bestowed upon me a Liebster Award. I hardly deserve such awards, especially since I have been so uninspired that I’ve written not a single word since early September. Perhaps this … Continue reading →

Posted in coaching, community, connection, experience, food, friends, friendship, lessons, unexpected gifts, writing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Class matters

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

School has started and with all the excitement of the new school year also comes some anxiety — from kids about homework, getting good grades, preparing for high school (and some of them for college).  Parents, too, have anxieties about … Continue reading →

Posted in affluence, class, community, connection, education, identity, lessons, race, teaching | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Every atom

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

I am not a believer.  I don’t believe in god, and fate has never really held much allure for me, despite the fact that a former lover tried to convince me that fate had brought us together (note well:  former).  … Continue reading →

Posted in connection, experience, family, inspiration, reincarnation, unexpected gifts | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments