I’m Not Doing It Anymore

For the past three years my sister and I have flown out to Chicago to visit our brother for a weekend. It started out as a one off thing and has morphed into a yearly event. Because we are who we are we had to name the weekend. When we were younger our Mom attempted […]

Most Embarrassing Moment EVER

October 1990, Evening I was getting ready for bed. The bathroom was on one end of the hallway and my bedroom was on the other. To get from the bathroom to my room I passed my brother’s room, then my sister’s room, then home-base. I had just taken a shower and was walking to my […]

Grandpa Frank

My father’s father, Frank, was the only grandparent I didn’t have the opportunity to meet. To the credit of my Dad and my Grammy I feel like I know the essence of who he was. I grew up on stories and pictures and was awfully touched when my Dad said that I briefly looked like […]

My Cuppa Tea

When I first started drinking “real tea”, as in British tea and not the standard American stuff, my British flatmates asked how I liked mine. “Plain please,” I answered. “Right, we put milk in it, do you want sugar?” And that is the moment my love affair with tea began. It started with herbal tea; […]

All I Want

Every year my birthday and Mother’s Day fall a week apart. Every year (besides this one) I’ve been asked by my very well intentioned husband if he can combine my gifts into one. I mean who am I to say no to presents?! Heres the major problem with this: the gift I want comes in […]

Power of the Hug

Four and a half hours there and four and a half hours back but what we got in between was totally worth it. When I step in to Aunt Tina and Uncle Michael’s house it takes me back to childhood. Starting from the front steps you can smell spices and food and there is always […]

Tomatoes

“Mom!” my youngest called from the shower. “What does LGBT stand for?” Why do we always do our best thinking in the shower? This is the same kid who asked me what it meant to be straight a few months ago. My kids might be more involved with the LGBTQIA+ community than other kids their […]

Divide and Conquer

I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to be a stay at home parent for the past eleven and a half years. This hasn’t been without a tradeoff, just like the trade off other parents make, like my husband, who don’t have the luxury of making the to choice to stay at home. Maybe you […]

Haus of VanDriver?

This week has been one of those weeks. One that makes me want to wander the aisles of Target to find the most comfortable and ugliest clothing to wear while lying under my weighted blanket and shopping for things I’ve decided I need on Amazon. For example these capris with pockets that I already own […]

Together Again

I always loved having a big family. My Grandma, Mildred, was the daughter of Gertrude and Arthur and the middle child of their three kids. When the siblings grew up they all moved within a three mile radius of each other. Each of Grandma’s siblings had four kids and then some of their kids also […]