Today is February 1st, and I might close the bookstore forever March 1st. That sucks more than you can imagine.

But, this was only supposed to be a December pop-up store for Christmas, because I didn’t have the resources to open a real bookstore yet. So, with rent paid for February, the bookstore is certain to exist for 3 whole months. A quarter of a year — at least. That is beyond encouraging.

And that’s how it is going. Every day feels like doom and a miracle, simultaneously.

This morning I unlocked the front door, dropped my dripping umbrella in…

From an exercise in The Artist’s Way…

I’ve spent the last few months working through Julia Cameron’s classic book on creative renewal, The Artist’s Way. It’s been such a valuable process. Last week, one of the tasks was to make 3 nice promises to my inner artist.

1. I know prioritizing the creative life is new and still fluid but I promise you, we will never again go backwards into an existence where your creativity must be hidden or squelched. …

Plan for 2–4 days at a time

Planning and shopping for just a few days is great for reducing food waste, which is good for the planet, and good for your wallet. Here are the simple steps I use to make a plan in just 5 minutes:

• Keep two magnetized lists on the fridge. One to write down the meals planned to keep the plan front and centre. The other is a shopping list.
• Peek inside the fridge to identify what needs to be used up, and plan the first meal around that. Lettuce and half a tomato? Okay, tonight’s dinner could be a big green salad…

If I swipe right on someone, he’s made enough of an impression that I am actually interested in making a connection with him. I would love to go on a date with this man. That’s my goal.

So, let’s imagine I’ve swiped right on a man’s dating profile, and he’s swiped right on mine, and BOOM, we have a match. The only way a guy could lose my desire for a date at this point, is through communication failure.

Communication is critical. Communication is the most important aspect of any relationship. I am 40 years old, and hope that a…

I was sipping my coffee this morning while sitting on my sofa and reading a book. I don’t know why, but I suddenly remembered, Oh yeah. I don’t really own anything.

Of course I own stuff. The two items that specifically came to mind that I don’t own are a house and a car. Everything I own is inside this apartment. My clothes. My kitchen tools. A few pieces of furniture. My books and my laptop and my cell phone. Some art. Miscellaneous items like plants, lamps, photographs, a fan, a mirror, and a couple of tchotchkes. Okay — my…

A Prayer

Heavenly Father,
You know better than anyone
the height of pain
that matches depth of love.
Have mercy on me, a mother deeply in love.

Who knows better than you
how the overwhelming brokenness of the world
will pierce the heart of your innocent one?

Who, more than your Child,
has experienced the agony,
the crushing
injustice, the lonely loss,
of the absence of parental love at his worst hour.

Father, for hours I’ve been absent
when my child needs help,
I, her mother, cry mercy.

They’re 16 and 17 now. Here’s what paid off.

Apologizing

Parents make mistakes. I tried to be self-aware and take the time to deliver an apology whenever I discovered a mistake I had made, whether it was momentary and minor or deep regret for a big choice long ago. This has had four major benefits.

• It kept me humble
• It built trust
• It modelled behaviour I wanted my kids to emulate
• It introduced various opportunities for them to practice forgiveness, an important life-skill

UNFORTUNATELY… I recently learned that sometimes I was apologizing in unhelpful ways, or worse, in ways that may…

The decision to leave my marriage was based in the best interests of my children. I waffle about how much to share publicly, but the basic version is that my husband’s anger had ruled our household for a long time, and it progressed to the point of becoming a question of physical safety.

If anything, I left the decision too long, not giving enough weight to our psychological and emotional well-being. Physical violence crosses much clearer boundaries. I pleaded with him to get help and he promised several times that he would, with each promise echoing the emptiness of the…