Every year that my friend Rochelle celebrates her birthday, she gives her mother a gift. Why? Well, why not?

Motherhood is usually a thankless job, so a little token of appreciation makes perfect sense, even if a mom has to wait until her child is a grownup to receive a present. (more…)

It used to be that nobody gave a rat’s patooty about the daily grind of motherhood. After all, nothing’s glamorous about changing poopy diapers, crawling on the floor in search of a pacifier in the middle of the night, scrubbing crayon off walls, and accidentally packing a pomegranate wine cooler in a child’s lunch box. (more…)

It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since Jack’s bar mitzvah, and my son is one year closer to his driver’s permit. Since his passage into adulthood, I seem to have more time on my hands. No more countless hours spent on rehearsing speeches and aliyahs, playing musical chairs with the seating chart, driving to tutor sessions, and making life or death decisions, such as whether to serve chicken versus sirloin kabobs at the kiddish luncheon. (more…)

Each year at Passover time, my goal is to learn something that I didn’t know before and pass that new tradition on to my children so that they better understand their own heritage. In other words, I want them to appreciate who they are and where they’ve come from as Jews. After all, “Whoever expands on the Passover telling is to be praised,” said the Jewish sages, and I need all the accolades that I can get. (more…)