So Long, Gone.

Life got really busy, and oh, how I've missed this place. With all that writing for other people, I've really missed my own writing. I was in and out of town for a while, then I was really looking forward to school vacation, and THEN I managed to get the flu on the first day of vacation (silly me for having that flu shot and washing my hands regularly).

After languishing in bed for four days and ignoring my children, I spent much of the last week in New York City at a lovely conference on the future of bar and bat mitzvah. Now, you might ask yourself why this Irish/Scottish/English/German chick was invited to a conference of Jews (I know this because I asked the same thing when they called). I was invited because I wrote a piece for the New York Times about my son's coming of age. The full article is here, but the centerpiece of my talk was this video:

I can't embed my talk at the Jewish Futures Conference, but if you go to this link and scroll down under the "Program" tab, you can skip to my section of the conference. I had a whole thing planned and rehearsed, but then I sat at a table with about twenty rabbis, and they were so darn interesting and impassioned I simply had to wing it based on the inspiration of the vibe in the room.

After the conference, I had a great meeting with my agent, a lovely coffee with one of my writing heroes who also happens to be a great coffee date, and dinner with three of the most amazing writers I've ever met. All three are experts in their respective fields: motherhood, marriage, and money. Put the four of us together, and you've got a new superpower - the educator / parent / financially-savvy / sexually satisfied woman. Sheesh. Someone alert the publishing industry to this goldmine. Plus, the food was amazing.

Speaking of women who are forces of nature, if you have not watched Esther Perel's TED talk on the secret to desire in a long-term relationship, stop what you are reading, even if it's this blog, and watch this now:

And yes, she's even cooler in person.

I got word that "Parents Need to Let Their Children Fail" ran as a color insert in a couple of Australian newspapers, which was cool:

I got called out in the national media for being a concern troll and a slut-shamer, so that was new and interesting, but then, this lovely piece about allowing kids to fail was published today at YummyMummy about "What To Do When Your Child's Marks Drop." 

So that's my last couple of weeks. I hope yours was good, and an original post is coming this weekend on the link between dress code and punctuation. No, really.

Thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading.