Category Archives: Stories

A Silicon Valley Scary Story

 

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Have you ever found yourself staring down at your phone, mentally straining as you telepathically will the connectivity bars to light up – signaling a genuine working connection? I usually find myself muttering sarcastically, “If only I lived in a place ubiquitous with technology and connectivity!”

You may think such a concept synonymous with the Silicon Valley.

You would be wrong.

More often then not it’s less bars in more places (to autocorrect AT&Ts former slogan).

But then I go home.

I grew up in Southern California, deep in a canyon community between the San Fernando Valley hills. Privacy is delightful; even more so, I’m sure, in 1978, when no one found themselves huddled next to the guest toilet because there may be possibility one dot of cell service intermittently transmitted through.

Come with me, this Halloween week, and join me on a terrifying trip to the most horrifying of haunts a TechMom could find herself…

Disconnected. Continue reading

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A Short Story – The California Drought, Day 1,643

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Once lush green stalks of tall grass glowed an angry red, as though they had been sunburned instead of merely water deprived.

I always presumed I would see plumes of yellow during the deep dog-days of summer, as the plants prepared for winter and reminded me to take hay fever medication. It was, after all, almost August. Instead the bleached tips of overgrown weeds in the expansive field waved a white flag of surrender as though mocking America the Beautiful’s sweet-smelling waving wheat. Continue reading

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A Really Big Announcement

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The little boy was afraid of the dark…

Years ago I brought two tiny babies home from the hospital. Turns out, the constant flicker of fluorescent lights and unceasing beeping alerts from monitors conditioned these small people to distrust the dark. (What – you mean like my womb where they were supposed to stay?)

Not to mention that after three months planning the great escape, followed by three months in baby jail, there was a lot of the world to explore. So I told my newborns a bedtime story.

Continue reading

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The Dinosaur and the Watermelon (Based on a True Story)

Dinosaur Watermelon

Once upon a time there was a dinosaur.

He said RAWR. Others laughed when he rawred. Sometimes they would rawr back, which would make the dinosaur rawr louder.

Everyone would laugh. There would be more rawring. Louder rawring.

So much rawring can make a dinosaur hungry. (Dinosaurs can get very cranky if their blood sugar gets low, you know.)

But this story is about a smart dinosaur. Continue reading

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The Oregon Trail (or crossing California with tiny people)

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As we celebrated the birth of our nation this past holiday weekend, I thought it only appropriate to harken back to the days of yore. To revisit a significant period in our nation’s history and perhaps discuss the impact it has on us today.

I am, of course, referring to the late 1980s when oodles of children sat at their Apple IIgs’ and played Oregon Trail from Disc 1 of 2 they’d just inserted into the floppy drive. Continue reading

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A Bedtime Story

Sometimes after a rough day (or week) you just want to sit back and have someone read you a story.

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Through the Eyes of a Child

The following conversation just happened:

Search: <singing> ITSY SPIDER! ITSY SPIDER

Me: Oh! Are we singing Itsy Bitsy Spider? <I start singing.>

Destroy: No, mommy. Continue reading

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The Secret Society of Prematurity

And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in.
– Haruki Murakami

Prematurity is an experience no one really thinks about when they embark upon the adventure of parenthood. And it’s not one anyone wants. But once fate flings such a twist our way, we find ourselves part of the secret society we never asked to pledge. Continue reading

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Imaginative Lives of Others

The muppets had energy oozing out of their pores. So we decided to go for a family hike.

Two hours. Two miles. But fear not future park patrons! Nary a rock remains on any part of the dirt trail we canvassed this afternoon. (Back at our homestead, our washing machine began quaking across the garage in anticipatory fear of the quarry bounty now stored in all the tiny pockets.) Continue reading

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Blogging for the Love of It

I just got all caught up on HBO’s Newsroom. Mind. Blown. Love that show – passion, power and general awesomeness. You see, 20 years ago I saw the movie Broadcast News and decided that would one day be me. I was going to tell stories.

As the media landscape changes at breakneck speed, I’ve seen op eds decrying the death of news and broadcast media. Steve Tobak of CBS recently tackled the question “Is ‘Do What You Love’ Good Career Advice?”

Now, I don’t claim to be an expert (I only have two degrees in communication studies), but isn’t that what we bloggers do? Storytelling. Granted, this blog isn’t what I do for a living, but the concept sure is close. Continue reading

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