Erin Loechner

Books finished: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum The Road to Character, by David Brooks Acedia & Me, by Kathleen Norris This is the week in which an epic marital miscommunication occurs, wherein Ken tells me he ordered a new potato scrubber, of which I didn’t know we’d ever owned. It occurrs to me that this is precisely marriage: traipsing dirt all over another’s best-laid plans, hoping we live long enough to laugh of it later. And when the instructor is asked how long until our new Liberty trees will yield fruit, and how much, we learn this: “

Mostly, it’s a crapshoot – and when it comes time for me to scan my own boarding pass weeks later, I find I’m a split blend of overjoyed and heavyhearted, all in the span of a single sec. Here, then, are my own solo parenting survival tips, whether for a few days or a few weeks, whether you’re the one leaving or staying, whether you’re at home or on the go: Ken and I have a rule that works for us, and it is simple Being gone when we’re gone; being home when we’re home. (Ken famously granted me a buffer day when I returned home from Ethiopia with a sadness I couldn’t shake, no matter the fact that he’d solo parented for weeks already.

All has been quiet. A small boy with a fistful of action figure cake toppers weaves between piles of folded towels, sheets

I want you to give you back to me, he yells from his crib. The toddler is fighting an afternoon nap; I’m trying hard not to lose