A Mom's Year

Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

Short Fiction

4. Sarah

The adults cleared away the dishes and sent the kids to the basement to watch a movie. Sarah put the leftovers in the fridge, retrieved her glass of wine from the counter, and joined the others at the table.

She and Brad knew three of the couples well. Or as well as you could know anyone from small talk on sidelines and school hallways.

Jack and Hope were new to the group. They were an attractive couple, Sarah thought. He was more outgoing than his wife, but Sarah liked Hope’s quiet humor and insights during dinner.

Jack had told a story that made everyone laugh and Sarah had met his eyes during the laughter. She was surprised when he held her gaze for a long moment. She had looked away, hiding her confusion with “Who wants dessert?”

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Festisite / Love Poem Generator

I’m so excited about this idea for Valentine’s Day! To generate a love poem, you go to www.festisite.com, type in your text, and click Layout Text. Some computer magic happens and a heart-shaped image made from your text appears. How cool is that?

I made one for Tim using the last few stanzas of “Anniversary Song” by the Cowboy Junkies. My lovely aunt Joan read the lyrics at our wedding and, thank you Lord, I still feel the same way 18 years later. I’ll glue the heart onto some red card stock, fold it into a card, write some sweet nothings inside, and tuck it under his coffee on Valentine’s Day.

[Read more…] about Festisite / Love Poem Generator

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Our current fourth grader, who is definitely something.

We finished The Mark of Athena (finally!—it went on forever) and are on to Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. This is in honor of our own fourth grader, Will. We’ve read the book twice already (for Andrew and Lexie) and their teachers read it to them in fourth grade, too, but no one minds because we like it so much.

Mrs. Chapman read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing to my class years and years ago. That’s what I remember most from fourth grade. Well, that and the fact that Mrs. Chapman was a direct descendant of John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed. We kids were very impressed. [Read more…] about Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Short Fiction: Beth

Beth

“How was your day?” Beth asked as Chloe buckled herself in.

“Good.” She was already texting, her dark head bent over her phone.

“What was good about it?”

“What?” Chloe said, removing one ear bud.

“I said, what was good?”

“I dunno. Just stuff.” She put the ear bud back in.

Beth persisted. “Who could be texting you already? Weren’t you with them all day?”

Chloe looked pained as she removed the ear bud again.

“What?” she said.

“Never mind.” Beth sighed and glanced in the rearview mirror at Jake.

“What were you saying about dodge ball?” she asked.

Jake launched into a play-by-play that lasted all the way to their driveway. [Read more…] about Short Fiction: Beth