Because competitive parenting is not a real sport.
Dear World’s Okayest Mom, My 11-year-old son monologues. He gets started on a topic, and goes on and on and on. And on and on. Sometimes he gets really passionate and starts lecturing everyone within earshot about why the topic is important and why he’s right. At first, it’s boring, then it alienates people. I’ve... Continue Reading →
Among my friends, it’s become something of a sport to gripe about our young teens. The sullen faces. The eye-rolls. The sinus-searing scent of their shoes. One dad I know, in the middle of a tirade about epic homework battles, exhaled deeply, “Remember when they were in preschool? Those were great days.” His eyes glazed... Continue Reading →
Tip #1: If you see a bear and the bear is not aware of you, quietly and calmly leave the area in such a manner as to avoid being detected. Do not approach more closely for any reason. It’s an hour and a half flight from Fairbanks to Bettles, Alaska. The nine-seater plane leaves not... Continue Reading →
I’ve always enjoyed my life porn: Sunset, Real Simple, Pottery Barn’s catalog. I cancel plans on the day that Ikea’s annual idea book arrives. At points in my life, even the Dixieline Lumber circular or that one catalog full of drapey clothes and Buddha-themed wall plaques has scratched my itch. And now there’s Pinterest, a... Continue Reading →
Once, years ago, my friend Natalie asked me, “You always say you’re too busy for stuff. What are you doing with your time?” There was an awkward, confused silence, because my every waking moment felt crammed with non-discretionary activities, stuff I had to do and do well. I felt like I barely had time to... Continue Reading →
The minibus driver pulled out without looking, just as my twelve-year-old passed on her bike. Two taxis, caught behind her, began call-and-response honking. She sped up, but so did the minibus driver, drag-racing my little girl on the traffic-choked streets of this dusty Colombian town. My husband and I had assumed the English-speaking bike tour... Continue Reading →
Communism had fallen, but no one told the bakeries. It was the early, hopeful years of Yeltsin (before he devolved into a bloated drunk) and the news agencies were reporting that Russia was flowering, backed by B-roll footage of the first McDonalds near Red Square. I was 21, my first passport stiff in my money... Continue Reading →
*Fact-checked to protect you from inaccuracy and spin In honor of 2016’s fake news epidemic, we decided to run our holiday update through Politifact’s Truth-o-meter™. COPY AND PASTE AS YOUR PROFILE; DON’T CLICK SHARE. PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH! FALSE. Politifact’s Truth-o-meter™ is trademarked and not available for private use. Also, most people don’t... Continue Reading →
In honor of the one(ish) year anniversary of Eric's free-diving accident, here is the full(er) story. I am in a taxi on my way to Hospital Mar Caribe. It took longer than usual to find a taxi because it’s Good Friday, which appears to be a shut-the-city-down kind of holiday in Colombia. The beaches have... Continue Reading →
Dear January 1st Becca, Tomorrow you leave on a six-month trip to Colombia. I know you are both heart-poundingly excited and sleepless with anxiety. What will Colombia be like? How will traveling as a family go? Will you be able to write? You have conflicting visions of how this crazy plan will go down. In... Continue Reading →
“As surely as there is a voyage away, there is a journey home.” -- John Kabat-Zinn One of my most vivid memories of my college summer in Russia didn't occur in Russia at all, but instead on my first day back in the United States. I had flown straight back to my unfurnished apartment and... Continue Reading →
One of our friends, back in our career-and-beer 20s, wrote news for a local Boston TV station. We would tease her about the station's feature exposes, each a variation on, “What you don’t know about peanut butter could kill you.” We’d sit around in various bars and put on our smarmiest TV announcer voice, filling in... Continue Reading →
This morning, as I brushed my teeth (water-free since the tap water isn’t safe) in the house where we are staying in rural Peru, I watched the neighbor plow his backyard with a pair of oxen. This sounds like a romantic view -- and four months ago it would have been -- but it prompted... Continue Reading →
The Inca Trail is not for wimps. Forty-four kilometers long -- that’s a marathon -- it begins at 8650 feet, climbs over two 13,000-foot-plus passes and arrives four days later in Machu Picchu. And those Incas didn’t do switchbacks. No, those bad-ass mo-fos saw a cliff face and said, “You know what sounds fun? Let’s build... Continue Reading →
In Cusco, the entire month of June is apparently a festival. There have been parades in the Plaza de Armas in the city center every day (so far), each day featuring brightly costumed dancers of various ages. Here are the littlest ones on parade, because, well, we couldn't help ourselves: And the youth: Because... Continue Reading →
We assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long... Continue Reading →
The food in Santa Marta is delicious: fresh, accessible, flavorful. But it's also a bit monotonous, an endless parade of fried fish, grilled chicken, patacon [plantain pancake] and arroz con coco [coconut rice, which locals in their charming, final-syllable-swallowing accent call arro-co-co]. Of course the universe of fruits is vast, with mangoes, papayas, avocados, lulos, guanabana, guayaba and coconuts,... Continue Reading →
Sometimes, it isn't the famous sites or grand adventures that highlight the differences in culture, but the little, everyday things. Here is a loosely curated list of what's different in Colombia. Some good or fun ideas, some not-so-good, and some that continue -- even after almost five months -- to completely baffle us... We could learn from this!... Continue Reading →
The minibus, as expected, pulled out from the curb without looking, just as my 12-year-old was passing on her bike. I could see her calculating as she was squeezed out into the tangle of cars and motos: should I speed up to pass, or slow down to drop behind? (This is a legitimate question here,... Continue Reading →
For almost three months, we were a self-sufficient four-person unit: Karpinskis vs. Colombia. We ate, slept, studied, shopped, cooked, cleaned, watched Modern Family, did everything as a foursome. It was both awesome -- we could complete each other’s thoughts! -- and occasionally painful -- we could complete each other’s thoughts! Then late March and Eric’s... Continue Reading →
The World's Okayest Mom 