Jennifer Briggs

Throughout Sarah’s life there have been many times when my mom has reminded me that I get to have some agency and power over my life. This may seem obvious and it may seem that I was already exercising much of my agency and control when being a parent of Sarah at any age, but…… Read more »

After spending a week not doing much except maybe an errand or two with Sarah and a nap with Sarah – or snuggling while talking about bears in boxes – I often feel like I didn’t do anything. And yet, if I wasn’t there “not doing anything” then someone else would need to be, so… Read more »

A week ago we spent a very hot Sunday morning in a small Pride Parade. Since we missed the main Pittsburgh Pride Parade, I was glad we could do this one, but if I had known how long of walk it was I might have had us turn back part way through. By the time… Read more »

Last Sunday in the late afternoon, Amy and I dropped Sarah off for her overnight camp and then went to Amy’ camp for her drop-off. Sarah’s cabin was inside a larger building, air-conditioned, spacious, and had an abundance of storage. At Amy’s camp we had trouble finding her cabin at first because we didn’t know… Read more »

We escaped the brutal heat of Monday by heading to the Jersey shore for a fun day with Carl’s cousin’s family. Amy played hard as she always does at the ocean, getting completely covered in sand and romping for hours in the waves. Sarah mainly watched the waves and chased birds. We spent the rest… Read more »

Amy is now a rising 8th grader and already seems taller and more grown-up, but I tend to think that every morning when I first see her. To finish out her 7th grade year, students were required to do a volunteer activity. Hmm. Think about that phrasing. Anyway, the activity could be of their choosing… Read more »

This was Sarah’s first full week of summer and she helped me with short errands in the time we had each day before I took a zoom class for three hours. Then she watched her favorite shows, played outside with bubbles, and took naps. The zoom class was about health and healing and was taught… Read more »

Although this cannot possibly be true, apparently Carl and I graduated from college 25 years ago. We just wrapped up a wonderful reunion weekend, traipsing all around Swarthmore’s gorgeous and ever-changing campus, belting out “I Will Survive” with our classmates in our favorite party room, staying in one of our old dorms, dancing to “Like… Read more »

Last Sunday we attended a luncheon to celebrate the marriage of one of my cousins to her fiancé. It was a beautiful day, it was wonderful to see lots of family members that we don’t often see or haven’t seen in many years, and there were bubbles galore so Sarah was in heaven. Amy made… Read more »

Last weekend Sarah had many screamy moments. It seemed like she didn’t have her usual capacity to handle being told “no,” whether it was us telling her to stop doing something or that we weren’t going to a bakery. If it had been later in the month I would have assumed her period was about… Read more »