Not Your Mother's Book: On Being a Mom Is Out -- and I'm In It!

Yesterday on the front porch I did a happy dance (actually it was more of a stumble) as I carried into the house the box of my contributor copies of NYMB: On Being a Mom.

The Publishing Syndicate book, edited by Dahlynn McKowen, Ken McKowen, and Dianna Graveman, has 64 stories by moms about raising their families.

While I haven't read all the stories, many of those I did read were laugh-out-loud funny. Others were warm and humorous in a sweet kind of way. The cover depicts the sassy, yet humorous, tone of the stories in book--and the candid snapshots inside are great!

Julie, Erik, and me

On page 57 you'll find my true story, "A Hairy Situation," about a shopping adventure my sister Kathleen and I took with our sons while our daughters were in school.

Let's just say my towheaded, blue-eyed, four-year-old son, Walt (Erik), made the trip memorable.

You can find this photo of my daughter Julie, son Erik, and me on page 60 of the anthology.

Next month, just in time for Mother's Day, several local contributors, including editor Dianna Graveman and yours truly, will be signing copies of the anthology at a sponsored event.

If you can't make it to the signing and would like to purchase a copy signed by me, send an e-mail to dvolkenannt (at) charter.net and I'll provide details.

Eighth Grade - Day One

 As promised in my previous post about my granddaughter Cari's first day of her senior year in high school, today's post is about my grandson's first day of eighth grade. Yesterday was Day One of Michael's eighth grade experience. This will be his last year at All Saints, our parish school which he has attended since first grade.

I remember his first day of kindergarten--at a different school in an adjacent city. It was a day to remember, mostly because a school bus monitor at his old school put him on the wrong bus. It was a frightening experience for everyone. My late daughter Julie had to make several calls before finding out what happened and getting Michael home safely. Julie was not happy with his old school at all.

A lot has changed since then. Seven-and-a-half years ago, while he was still in kindergarten, he lost his mom and dad. Cari was ten and Michael was six at the time our daughter Julie and son-in-law Mike died in a motorcycle accident. After the accident, Cari and Michael moved in with us and have lived with us since then. It has been our joy and our blessing to raise our grandchildren, help them (and us) cope with loss and sorrow, and watch them grow into happy teens.

When Michael first moved in, he was a shy youngster who hadn't yet lost his first tooth. Now, he's a typical teenager, who loves going to our "farm" with my husband Walt (his Opa), enjoys playing  sports and video games with his friends, and occasionally talks back when he thinks I'm not listening. Michael is tall for his age -- already six-foot-one -- and still growing.

The other night, after making sure he had all his his school supplies, I read his school's parent/student handbook, just in case there was a new rule I'd missed. Under the section on school uniform and proper dress, there was one sentence I hadn't noticed before--about boys not having visible facial hair. So, on his last night of summer vacation, with the help of his Opa, Michael shaved his upper lip for the first time. Wow! How did he grow up so fast?


Here is a photo taken yesterday of Walt and Michael backing out of the driveway on their way to school.

Eighth grade is going to be busy and fun--and filled with memorable experiences. Michael will go on a retreat in September and be confirmed in April. His class has field trips planned, inlcuding a tour of the Cathedral Basilica and the Holocaust Museum in St. Louis next February, watching "A Christmas Carol" at Lindenwood University in November, and a day trip to Hannibal (birth place of Mark Twain, my mom, and his dad's parents) in May.

There's a lot going on in my grandson's life; he is well on his way to becoming a young man.



Senior Year - Day One

Today is a big day in our house; it's our granddaughter Cari's first day as a high school senior. It's hard to believe. I remember the day I watched her climb the school bus her first day of kindergarten. She wore a cute yellow dress and had a big yellow bow in her hair. My daughter Julie cried that day while son-in-law Mike snapped photos when their baby girl headed off to school. I shed a few tears too.



This morning there were no tears, only smiles. She woke up bright and early, got ready in record time. She stopped for a minute to let me take this shot as she hurried out the door.

I snapped another as she walked to her car to drive away, ready for a new adventure. She was in a hurry to get to a friend's house for more pictures. It's a big day in our little part of the world, and one I will remember. Truth be told, I shed a few tears of my own. Tomorrow I get to do this again when grandson Michael starts his first day as an eighth-grader. Stay tuned!