Our kitchen table
You might think just because I’ve got a career, happy family, and blue eyes that I’ve got it all. You might think because I scored an agent and the greatest friends known to man that I’m perfectly content and satisfied. You might think that I have no idea what it feels like to be lonely, [...]
How to enjoy a day at the beach with kids
I spent years wondering why so many people enjoyed the beach. Have you ever really looked at those tourists baking like lobsters in the heat of a summer’s day? They don’t look like they’re having fun. My parents dragged me to Anna Maria Island or Clearwater Beach a few times. I’d marvel at crowds of [...]
Home sweet home
Back in 1996, less than a year into our marriage, my husband and I desperately needed a change. Our hometown suddenly seemed old and inadequate. We wanted to escape suburbia and live somewhere exciting. We packed up everything we owned and never looked back, saying goodbye to Tampa without a single tear. Goodbye unbearable heat! [...]
Modern v. old-fashioned parenting
After hearing stories this past week about how my relatives were raised during the 1940s and 1950s, I’m surprised my grandparents and their contemporaries were never brought up on charges. The fact that they weren’t featured in a movie-of-the-week or some best-selling memoir must mean that their parenting styles were accepted and even appreciated. Their [...]
Lessons from my grandmother
St. Patrick’s Day always reminds me of my mother’s mother, the original Catherine Durkin. It was her favorite holiday. As I get older, I often think of her and how she taught by example… This oldie but goodie is for her. Ode to Kitty To her nine grandchildren, of which I was oldest, she’ll always [...]
Up in smoke – one mommy’s collection of unrealized dreams
Every once in a while, I hear from women who gave up something in order to have children. They lament about a postponed European trip or maybe a successful career long ago set aside in favor of playgroups, Sesame Street, and mood stabilizers. I feel their pain. I love my husband and kids with all [...]
Happiness is having a large and loving family that lives in another town
Mom always said she wanted her kids to live nearby, even on the same street. Several times this past week, with my siblings under her roof with their own children, I looked at her and yelled, above the deafening hum of Dad’s toy train speeding around the track, Champagne Supernova at full volume on someone’s [...]
When family comes together, why do I suddenly fall apart?
This past weekend in North Tampa, if you listened carefully, you could hear animals whimpering the way they do when a hurricane is coming or when a tree is about to fall on their head or when several generations crowd themselves into a 3 bedroom/2 bath, 1800 square-foot house in the name of family togetherness. [...]
Ten years of two
I did something the other day I swore I’d never do. No, I’m not talking about voting Republican or driving through downtown Gainesville. I’m talking about something truly embarrassing and unworthy of a former punk queen who hung out in Ybor City before they installed street lights. I put together 77 of my children’s photos [...]
My annual newsletter
‘Tis the season for holiday cards and form letters. That’s right. Check out those cards and one or two are usually stuffed with an annoying newsletter. Some family you hardly talk to sends along an impressive list of achievements designed to catch you up. It’s filled with boring anecdotes about the family vacation in Paris, [...]
Catherine Durkin Robinson
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she’s crafty
