tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15766545175376823152024-03-13T07:57:25.773-04:00Writings From a Full LifeMeghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.comBlogger261125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-41619066736942826612022-07-18T15:54:00.004-04:002022-07-18T15:59:03.677-04:00Cousins Week<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Every year, around the first week of July, a group of cousins who live 3,000 apart takes a hike to a low, rocky outcrop in Franconia Notch, locally known as Mt. Baldy. It’s not a long hike, nor a difficult one, but the view from the top is sweet – and it has become, over the past decade or so, a family tradition.</span><span> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"></p><span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8US4b3WCsk3-tw5F8l3PCH5e7gb7d7onJlf2_HG-H1A_D_qq8Sy_dVaATZXGOpSouLZ17pjfTv8uor7VjwYxjDg7vKTENL7q5xJq8xVXW7ZqavqlVjP2VTw_8pDptpVH-gTRodVZIxIc8jUPC3u5XMyhG20RvOyyMHlrCnWcykHbSWO23tLZeAmIC/s1280/IMG_3711.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8US4b3WCsk3-tw5F8l3PCH5e7gb7d7onJlf2_HG-H1A_D_qq8Sy_dVaATZXGOpSouLZ17pjfTv8uor7VjwYxjDg7vKTENL7q5xJq8xVXW7ZqavqlVjP2VTw_8pDptpVH-gTRodVZIxIc8jUPC3u5XMyhG20RvOyyMHlrCnWcykHbSWO23tLZeAmIC/w300-h400/IMG_3711.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">📷: Michelle McCarthy</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hiking Mt. Baldy has been at the top of my California nephew’s New Hampshire to-do list since one of his first visits here. Back then, the kids were all small, and the trek seemed a long journey for little legs. Now, our crew of teenagers makes it from the trailhead sign – where they somewhat grudgingly pose for the obligatory annual Baldy photo – to the top in mere minutes. This summer, the littlest cousin, who lives just down the road, made her inaugural cousins hike up Baldy, perched comfortably on her mother’s back. That littlest is now learning to walk, and I imagine on the next cousins hike, she’ll be ready to scramble along on her own.</span></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the years, the week of activities on the list for Cousins Week has shifted a bit, as some things are added and others removed. But a few things remain from one July to the next: the Baldy hike, a trip (or two) to Chutters to stock up on candy and fudge, riding in the back of the pickup through the woods road, and loading up kayaks and lunch to drive out to Long Pond and search for salamanders and loons. In recent years, we’ve added trips to favorite breweries, a few hot laps on mountain bikes along a wooded route, and a backyard fireworks display, since the visit generally falls around the Fourth of July (and backyard fireworks are not allowed in dry California).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My kids talk about the cousins visit throughout the year, and in the days before the Cali crew arrives, that talk is almost non-stop. While other summer mornings, if they are not working, they may lounge around and gradually get to breakfast and whatever comes next, the week the cousins are here, my kids are out of bed and pedaling their bikes up the driveway and around the corner to my folks’ house before I’ve poured my second cup of coffee. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cousins Week means Poppy pancakes for breakfast, card games on the porch, endless and intense rounds of badminton in the back yard. There are family dinners – where the youngest generation still sits at the kids’ table, even though they’re mostly grown-up size now. There is teasing (among both cousins and middle-aged siblings) and laughing and arguing over whether that birdie landed in or out on a court that has no boundaries. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s the kind of togetherness that only happens when the parties don’t see each regularly, when they gather together only during this one stretch of days. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">None of us knows how many more summers we’ll have of this week together, as college looms and summer jobs require more time close to home and the kids phase out of, well, being kids. But however long they last, I’m guessing a cousins trek up Mt. Baldy will remain in the mix, right at the top of the list.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;">Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay appeared as Meghan's July 7, 2022 Close to Home column in the Littleton Record.</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #eeeeee; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"> </span></span></p></div>Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-25534444925919176012022-06-08T21:20:00.005-04:002022-06-08T21:20:59.792-04:00Team on Three ... <p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">What happens when you take 18 kids from a half dozen towns and four different high schools and throw them together on a soccer field? Well, if you’re lucky – and if all the stars and personalities align – you get a team.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">This was the experiment we started back in March, although the conversation started well before then. I had two kids who wanted to play spring soccer, but had no team. Some of their friends were also interested in playing. My friend Mike – whose kids are friends with my kids – was game to help with coaching. And I had a connection with an established club who said if we could wrangle enough kids, they’d include a locally-based team under the club’s umbrella. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKZH4v2ziWR0TR2RTxjqTnm8vAgosdjcmuMUR-NU1r0galriZI1auZ1XYzJ0pvbgZq4jzUZBYqPpV0YVEGOKObIm-g3TOrVSZkd1kKJrhmawORPDMMDJ-h6FpN8untxNu6H18EpAv30m2xuWFd7JG62RueQII4PYf-4zXUbuzF259KHTa4Ty5pdXj/s320/soccer%20ball.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKZH4v2ziWR0TR2RTxjqTnm8vAgosdjcmuMUR-NU1r0galriZI1auZ1XYzJ0pvbgZq4jzUZBYqPpV0YVEGOKObIm-g3TOrVSZkd1kKJrhmawORPDMMDJ-h6FpN8untxNu6H18EpAv30m2xuWFd7JG62RueQII4PYf-4zXUbuzF259KHTa4Ty5pdXj/s1600/soccer%20ball.jpeg" width="314" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Finding those 18 kids from a half dozen towns took some scrambling, and our group grew in fits and starts. Before we got to that soccer field, we started in a high school gym. It was the home school gym for several of these kids, and a rival gym for the others. And, indeed, before we started, many of these teenagers knew each other only as rivals – having faced off on opposing sides of the soccer field or basketball court a time or two. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">During the first couple of practices, only two schools were represented. Those sessions were pretty quiet, with awkward silences between drills and activities, and groups forming mainly along school allegiances. Then we added a handful of boys – and another coach – from a third school. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Maybe it was some “Rule of Three” effect. Or maybe it was the timing of it. Probably it had a lot to do with personalities. Whatever the reason, by the time we headed outside in mid-April, this group of mostly boys and a few girls was goofing around, cracking jokes – often at a new teammate’s expense – and assigning each other nicknames. Sometimes, they were getting along SO well that we had to pause practice and wait for them to stop talking with each other.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">When you grow up in a small town surrounded by other small towns, you spend a good portion of your childhood with the same bunch of kids. If you play sports, you probably have the same teammates (and some of the same opponents) from kindergarten through high school. If you’re lucky, those teammates become good friends, and maybe you figure out – early on or further down the road – how to work well together on the field. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">But every now and then, it can be really fun to mix it up. Play with different teammates. Compete against other teams. Listen to a different coach (or two). Learn to play a new position. And, well, make some new friends. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">By our first game, we had players from four different high schools on the roster. While we didn’t end the season with a winning record, the highlight of the spring was a tournament over Memorial Day weekend. The team won its first three games, including beating a team they’d tied earlier in the spring, and reached the tourney’s semifinals. For coach mom here, though, the best part of the weekend was seeing this group of awesome humans hanging out with each other and just having fun together. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Our coaching goals for the season were to get the kids lots of touches on the ball, teach them a bit more about the game, help them learn to become better players. And they did – as individuals and as a team. The new friendships were a collateral bonus. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">This week, this crew of kids who didn’t really know each other a few months ago had their final game of the season. The next day, they got together one last time for a pickup session, which was as much about socializing as it was about soccer. For 90 minutes, they ran around a soccer field, laughing and playing and talking smack. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Come fall, these kids will go back to being rivals on the pitch. But at the end of the season’s last gathering, they came together in a tight circle one more time, put their hands into the center, and gave their pre-game yell: “Team on three – one-two-three team!”</span><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div><i style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay appears as Meghan's June 9, 2022 Close to Home column in the Littleton Record.</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #eeeeee; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;"> </span></div>Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-31961368511626619842022-06-08T21:08:00.004-04:002022-06-08T21:08:33.805-04:00May Mornings<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0iPI-F9dE0nB-NeWMzcotyFBsplgtE-TszZ52nE5zDqxWtXShSFfiSAgeDfNzXFBTLpfGewUp2APmGMu4BApB9uDFaINg3vwCnyVW5pRpkUG1IhBAvU-AtP-cfXNY7mHldAlTyVOjqGvUBhBcMv6sV7d378SxiqGRu2Dr4K-MDawnZlNZWibX_HZd/s4032/morning%20May%20light.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0iPI-F9dE0nB-NeWMzcotyFBsplgtE-TszZ52nE5zDqxWtXShSFfiSAgeDfNzXFBTLpfGewUp2APmGMu4BApB9uDFaINg3vwCnyVW5pRpkUG1IhBAvU-AtP-cfXNY7mHldAlTyVOjqGvUBhBcMv6sV7d378SxiqGRu2Dr4K-MDawnZlNZWibX_HZd/w300-h400/morning%20May%20light.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>By nature and my own design, I am almost always the first of my household to rise. When the kids were little, I got into the habit of rising earlier than they did, no matter how tired I might be. Those early mornings were often the only time I could rely on quiet; I cherished that bit of peace, however short, to sip my coffee and prepare for whatever the hours ahead might bring. As a morning person, I am attuned to the light early in the day – and how that light ebbs and flows through the seasons.<p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">As September spins into October, summer’s yellow-white light fades, too quickly, to a subdued gray and I lament the morning dimness. No matter how bright an autumn day may become, with fall sunshine and all the colors of changing leaves, the steadily darkening mornings clearly indicate that summer has gone. By November, I am feeling my way down the hallway well before sunrise, shocked into wakefulness when my bare feet hit the chill of the kitchen’s tile floor.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Though I grow used to these dark mornings by the depth of winter – and even accept the coziness of the lamp-lit quiet, tucked warmly away from the snowy world outside – I wholeheartedly welcome the return of early morning light come springtime. Some morning near the beginning of March, I notice a faint glow through my window shades as I awaken, and I know that no matter how much snow there is on the ground or how icy the wind is outside, the light is returning. This happens not long before the bi-annual time change, which always seems like a cheap trick to me – to give me morning light, then snatch it away as a tradeoff for lingering evening brightness.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Daylight “savings” aside, come May, the morning light glows through those window shades earlier and brighter. Each day’s first wash of light gradually flows across a landscape whose color is expanding by the day. The newly green grass grows greener, dotted by happy yellow daffodils and dandelions. In the field, the lupine leaves on their slowly stretching stalks hold dew that sparkles in the morning sun. The pink-hued flowers of red maple trees and cascading pale green of willows tint yards and hillsides as leaves prepare to unfurl. The leaf buds on the lilac bushes swell daily, and I think if I had the patience to sit and watch, I could probably see them grow before my eyes. The fragrant flowers of those bushes will bloom this month, as will the shadbush at the edge of the driveway and the sweet pink and white apple blossoms in the fields beyond.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">May is when early morning reclaims its light, and it is not only the leaves and flowers and returning birds who take note and adjust. I return to my weekend ritual of early morning porch sits, absconding outside with a blanket, a book, and the day’s first cup of coffee. I return to occasional early morning walks through the woods or slow, backroads runs. Even before the sun is fully up, the sky is filled with light. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Perhaps we morning people are, in a way, solar powered. This growing morning light corresponds with an exceptionally busy time of year for my family. These early May mornings allow me the bit of space and time – and brightness – I need to reset and recharge before I dive into each full day. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay appears as Meghan's May 5, 2022 Close to Home column in the Littleton Record.</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #eeeeee; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;"> </span></p>Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-82700347190211217272022-04-12T11:31:00.002-04:002022-04-12T11:31:59.357-04:00Seasons of Chaos<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As every parent of school-aged children knows, each season has its own level of crazy. For my family, it is often the sport-du-saison that ramps up the chaos, especially when there is overlap between one and the next. Now, for instance, as ski season lingers, while spring soccer and tennis kick off at full speed. Three kids. Two sports. Five teams. Oof.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTRszoP-8OE8DlUyALTjslqpa4BclG--pc7JIIVAqt0S6KUEiETDSsIEVzZRzfR2lLLG0yMRC_6krSh_leZrA-JXRapL_Ght1ze8l_f4NGqUx37bUZE9f9zdd1wx8_JmH2hhDPzi0OzILD_c_nElbxO5S7KFZcva9xwzhE_PflPgGNWtJ8We7Ik8n/s3628/chaos.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2584" data-original-width="3628" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTRszoP-8OE8DlUyALTjslqpa4BclG--pc7JIIVAqt0S6KUEiETDSsIEVzZRzfR2lLLG0yMRC_6krSh_leZrA-JXRapL_Ght1ze8l_f4NGqUx37bUZE9f9zdd1wx8_JmH2hhDPzi0OzILD_c_nElbxO5S7KFZcva9xwzhE_PflPgGNWtJ8We7Ik8n/s320/chaos.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">The logistics, even with two involved parents, plus grandparents living nearby to help with taxi-ing and other things, can range from daunting to seemingly impossible. Our spring calendar is a muddle of games and practices and who-needs-to-be-where-when. Some days, my head spins when I try to figure out how to get everyone – including myself – where they are supposed to be at the allotted times. </span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here’s the thing, though – I’m not sure I’d have it any other way. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There was one spring, in 2020, when we had no place to be. That, of course, was the year Covid hit and much of our world shut down. Frenzied schedules of sports and school concerts and social outings suddenly shifted to a very long stretch of days spent almost entirely at home. Work was from home. School was from home. And our sporting endeavors became constrained to the backyard. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That spring, we did lots of projects around the house and yard. We spent weekends normally reserved for games instead completely revamping the huge and unwieldy perennial bed at the front of the house. We walked in the woods and along normally quiet roads that had become even quieter, since most other people weren’t going anywhere either. We played nearly daily family games of soccer and disc golf in the yard, fashioning goals from tree trunks and targets from boulders and branches and old stumps. We hardly got in the car at all. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In some ways, it was kind of nice to have all that downtime and so many fewer obligations. But we also longed to get back to teams and sports and friends and competition – with someone beyond immediate family members. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Two years later, we have returned to full-fledged scheduling madness. And I am OK with that. Mostly because I realize it will not last forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The other day, I was lamenting to my mom how wild and crazy the family logistics are becoming, with kids going all different directions, work obligations, and the task of feeding three teenagers on-the-fly. “Yes, it’ll be busy for a few more years,” she said. The conversation rolled on to the next topic, but that remark has stuck with me. A few more years. Then, these multiple-sports-a-season, driving-all-over-creation, mom-there’s-nothing-to-eat days will be another phase of raising kids that has passed. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I won’t have to create spreadsheets and color-coded calendars to help manage our family schedule. I will have far fewer games to watch and none of my own children to coach. It will, perhaps, be weirdly quiet in my house. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, yeah, I’m jumping into the chaos of this season. If anyone needs me, I’m probably driving to practice. Or a game. Or to the grocery store – again – to restock. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;">Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay appears as Meghan's April 7, 2022 Close to Home column in the Littleton Record.</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #eeeeee; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"> </span></span></p></div>Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-73059806957940431572022-02-03T08:50:00.003-05:002022-02-03T10:31:57.538-05:00Birthday Season<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Birthday season is in full swing in our house. All the humans who live here turn another year older during a stretch of five weeks. And from the first week of January to the last week of February, if you add only the local members of our extended family into the mix, we have nine birthdays. That’s a lot of cake. And a lot of reflecting on the passage of time. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxM8ss4lPqBxRMqNEJhotTSv13xfSLwKOQhXyQNnsxlf-t-jmN3NJaIM0gEOsOrhR0v9xZXVIDa6N7Id5GIrRN2hppvP0wBG0LCjLIXYTSFxeHiCD6LnkQS1gXAS-ZO7cUhnXWAjOnnyy598yTQL_IYI5731VrYoc28Qka4Q8JkAHOjIc7nqktjBvd=s1465" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1465" data-original-width="1429" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxM8ss4lPqBxRMqNEJhotTSv13xfSLwKOQhXyQNnsxlf-t-jmN3NJaIM0gEOsOrhR0v9xZXVIDa6N7Id5GIrRN2hppvP0wBG0LCjLIXYTSFxeHiCD6LnkQS1gXAS-ZO7cUhnXWAjOnnyy598yTQL_IYI5731VrYoc28Qka4Q8JkAHOjIc7nqktjBvd=s320" width="312" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">This stretch of winter weeks used to entail lots of time spent baking (and frosting and eating) cupcakes, wrapping presents, and planning parties for little people. Recently, I came across decade-old photos from a dinosaur-themed birthday party, including some pictures of dino-masked preschoolers playing Pin the Tail on the T-Rex. The birthday honorees in those photos are now mere months away from having their drivers permits. Gulp. </span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For a year after my youngest was born, I could claim I had three kids under the age of 3. It was a statement that was partly prideful (as in, “I don’t know how, but I am doing this!”), but also partly oh-my-gawd-help-me! Now that I’m about to have three teenagers in the house, I feel the same way. I am so proud of these humans my husband and I are raising. And I am so challenged by raising them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Early in my parenting career I realized, often in moments of panic, that I had no idea what I was doing. This parenting thing, it’s no joke. And sometimes it’s wicked hard. What if I did something that totally messed up these children I had born and am responsible for growing into adulthood? Fifteen years into being a mom, that feeling lingers, sometimes just a distant internal hum, other times an anxiety-laden roar.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When the kids were little and I’d be out with them – at the playground or in the grocery store, with all three loaded into the cart – well-meaning parents of much older children (or grandchildren) would smile wistfully and tell me to “enjoy every moment.” And, like parents of small children everywhere, I’d smile politely while silently calculating how many nights in the past month I’d slept for more than four consecutive hours and wondering if I should truly enjoy EVERY moment, including the ones occupied by diaper blowouts, toddler temper tantrums, and middle-of-the-night projectile vomiting.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But even then, I knew my babies would grow faster than I was prepared for. The sweetness of those baby and toddler stages – and of just about every stage since – trumped all the not-so-sweet stuff. I have tried, all along the way, to cherish the best moments, even the ones – or maybe especially the ones – comprising such normalcy as a 6-year-old holding my hand as we walked down the road or a teenager skunking me in a game of cribbage. I have made it a conscious habit to NOT wish time away. And, still, the time keeps flying by. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These past few years, I’ve discovered that no one ever tells a mom of teenagers to “enjoy every moment.” But those more seasoned parents will often share a quiet look of sympathetic understanding or some vague words of encouragement. With my friends who are also parenting teens, I lament adolescent angst and eye-rolling attitudes – along with the realization that too soon these kids who can sometimes cause us so much consternation will be out of the house and onto their next stage – one that doesn’t involve hand-holding walks (at least not with Mom), after-dinner family games, homework help, or curfews. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So I strive to continue to hold onto those best moments, even in the midst of the not-so-fun ones. I cherish those rare afternoon ski runs with a kid or three. Or when one of them hugs me and holds on just an extra second or two. Or when they share stories from their day, and I get a little glimpse into those worlds that are more and more separate from mine all the time. I know other parents of teenagers cherish these moments, too, because we sometimes talk about the wonder of that stolen time with our kids, who so often these days are at school or at work or off with their friends or hidden away in their rooms doing homework – or just avoiding their parents. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And at least during Birthday Season, I know these teenagers of mine will emerge from their rooms once in a while. After all, there’s lots of cake to be eaten this time of year.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;">Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay appears as Meghan's February 3, 2022 Close to Home column in the Littleton Record.</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #eeeeee; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"> </span></span></p></div>Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-5963432401022737492022-01-07T06:25:00.007-05:002022-01-07T06:26:48.243-05:00Walking Through the Dark<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As we approached the darkest – or at least the longest – evening of the year last month, the kids and I took to venturing out for post-dinner walks. Partly this is because with so much dark and so little daylight, it can be a challenge to fit exercise into the daylight hours. And partly it’s because there are only so many Netflix shows we can watch and games of cribbage we can play during these long nights. Sometimes we need another diversion. Or a fresh air fix. Winter evening walks are a way to have both.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEIBYygMumX7F44eL5x9tTiZlhROJ0lho32jgU_Pu3b_PPq68KlSk29LUgM9n2Z-DMtlv5NzENtbXGWCuYBi-hojwQfiy-JL0n0QE8ITTY5GPiQF4FZrqbwYNgyz7LH1oR2wxgCiVjkNkXIFL1Ctbyff4vMoGhlbHWG65FNph0cEp6EtAdY0-wUDCb=s3556" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3556" data-original-width="2631" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEIBYygMumX7F44eL5x9tTiZlhROJ0lho32jgU_Pu3b_PPq68KlSk29LUgM9n2Z-DMtlv5NzENtbXGWCuYBi-hojwQfiy-JL0n0QE8ITTY5GPiQF4FZrqbwYNgyz7LH1oR2wxgCiVjkNkXIFL1Ctbyff4vMoGhlbHWG65FNph0cEp6EtAdY0-wUDCb=s320" width="237" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like lots of people around here, we live on a dirt road where the traffic is sparse, especially during dark winter nights. The only streetlight is at the far end of the road, and we tend to wander in other directions during our evening forays. I often strap a headlamp around my hat as we venture into the darkness, but my preference is to allow our eyes to adjust, to see our way bit by bit, sometimes with a <a href="http://writingsfromafulllife.blogspot.com/2019/12/winter-wonders.html" target="_blank">twinkling of starlight </a>or moonglow to guide us. </span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Last year, these walks generally included only me and the dog. This winter, though, the kids have been wound up and ready to ramble with me after we’ve eaten dinner and done the dishes. Having their company is not always relaxing – they can be loud, and sometimes they run ahead to hide, then spook the rest of us by jumping out from behind some shadowy tree – but as the mother of teenagers, I figure I should take all the screen-free together time I can get these days. Plus, I’d rather have them running around outside than bouncing off the walls inside.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I remember watching people stroll along Lake Garda one summer, during college, when I spent a few weeks backpacking around Europe. Older couples walked arm-in-arm, kids scampered about, and nobody seemed to be going anywhere in particular. They weren’t in a hurry, or pumping their arms to burn extra calories from eating all that delectable gelato – just meandering along a lake in a resort town of mountain views and sidewalk cafes. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Probably most of these evening strollers were tourists, like I was. And maybe this was not their normal, non-holiday routine. But I found the idea of an after-dinner walk charming – and memorable enough that the mental image has stuck with me for more than a couple of decades and countless life changes since those two nights spent at a hostel by the lake. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My winter evening rambles through the neighborhood with my kids are vastly different from those Riva del Garda strolls through the bright evening light of an Italian summer when I was 21. Somehow, though, the one evokes a recollection of the other. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then, I was sipping wine with friends and basking in warmth of the season and our youth, suntanned and carefree and thrilled to be spending a couple of days in this foreign land. Now, I walk with offspring who have surpassed me in height, our feet crunching across a frozen, white landscape. Our breath curls as wispy clouds into the darkness. The snow-laced branches of balsam firs and hemlock trees stand as silent, magical sentinels along the quiet road.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes we step off the road and into the woods, where our tracks crisscross those of snowshoe hare, deer, foxes, and other forest dwellers. The dog revels in the scents floating in the night air and throws herself happily down to roll in the snow. The mountains of home rise along the horizon, their familiar craggy shapes barely discernible through the dark, the bright lights of snowcats prowling along ski trails. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We come home rosy-cheeked and stomping snow from our boots onto the floor, where it will melt into small, cold puddles. These winter nights are long, yes. But our walks bring us, bit by bit, through the darkness. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay appears as Meghan's January 6, 2022 Close to Home column in the Littleton Record.</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #eeeeee; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;"> </span></span></p></div>Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-40151453577106687372021-12-02T10:34:00.006-05:002021-12-02T10:35:25.921-05:00Snowscape<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>he landscape near home transformed last week, from dull and dreary late-November blah to the soft snow and sparkle that inspire those of us who love winter to welcome it back each year.</span><span> </span><span> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhuV8oUnN_LTevzIyF-1t9o5VBLFZuNbkyaHbcyFRxsR8QosK0qZfmk1I3ygDsX-KAODSCLi66SASLQQSes1sveKAal3AhymGwCPOyZ3OqaOgJaNh-PkR2fRU9whol1z-QqthmzJX34iKTbgoBOwwQLxKZbgrRCwE_ovwYuzKC0bxCYh7RentAI5Lef=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhuV8oUnN_LTevzIyF-1t9o5VBLFZuNbkyaHbcyFRxsR8QosK0qZfmk1I3ygDsX-KAODSCLi66SASLQQSes1sveKAal3AhymGwCPOyZ3OqaOgJaNh-PkR2fRU9whol1z-QqthmzJX34iKTbgoBOwwQLxKZbgrRCwE_ovwYuzKC0bxCYh7RentAI5Lef=s320" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the afternoon before Thanksgiving, the dog and I had walked through the woods, crunching across a thick layer of fallen leaves and watching the final rays of a quickly-sinking sun sift through the bare, gray limbs of trees. Two days later, those leaves and limbs were covered by a few inches of snow. </span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Snow changes everything. It softens the hard, homely edges of late fall. Covers the blemishes of the brown fields and color-depleted forest floor. Drapes the evergreens in lacy white and sets the mountains to morning brilliance and evening alpenglow. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Snow – for me, at least – also provides a seasonal attitude adjustment. There is a stretch of time in late autumn (call it Stick Season – or simply November) where my instinct is to turn inward, hunker down, stay inside for all those growing hours of darkness. An outdoors lover by nature and nurture, during this time I often have to force myself to get out of the house and into the outside for that fresh air fix. I find myself wondering how I can possibly love the coming winter season – and if I really do, or it’s just what I’ve always known. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then it snows, and all is right in my world. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite my touchy relationship with November, this year’s lingering warmth and smattering of sweet sunshine softened the drabness. I’ve often thought I’d adjust more easily to this seasonal shift if we went from 50-degree days straight into winter, and that’s sort of what last week’s snow transformation felt like. In a day, we shifted from Thanksgiving to the Christmas season, from autumn to winter, from blah to brilliant. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The first snow also fell on a rare weekend when my family had very little on the calendar. We were free to simply revel in the newness of this season without rushing to the ski slopes or driving to soccer practice. Homework was done. No one had to go to work. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We walked through the woods and had our first (short) ski through the field. We laughed at the dog’s joyful snow-rolling antics. Even after dinner, we returned outside. A few evenings earlier, the dark had seemed all encompassing. Now, a soft glow reflected from the snow, providing just enough light for us to make our way along the quite roads. The stars, I think, shine more brightly when there is snow sparkle below.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I know it’s easy to love winter when it’s sparkly and new. I know that in the coming months there will likely be rain that ruins the snow and my mood, bitter winds that make me want to stay inside by the fire, and nights long and dark enough for me to yearn for spring’s return. But it snowed last week. And, for now, that’s enough. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay appears as Meghan's December 2, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton Record.</i><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"> </span></span></p></div>Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-88084350343566678192021-11-12T11:09:00.004-05:002021-11-12T11:09:47.359-05:00Stick Season<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Each year, when we reach November, I find ways to distract myself from – well, all things November-y. The damp chill that settles into bones. The protracted dark of the mornings and evenings. The stark bareness of the landscape once all the leaves drop from their trees and the growing, blooming things of summer have turned to dormancy. <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEih56-_3ghD4NTU-9OCWx792fVBMnKvAI2bqK78M-mMWNAGLKXb0alWMzVcyR4lB3lfiwYgYysUJpN0XGl9a79zKhAm3vtzmE-3ujI5S8tniqWuOB2F97_s4FWkyFpbX4uAsO1mGCOzNQmD8WPQmjz1yYjlM-hluYfUQYIYfwVnp0uDiaDSDB9Y9mWy=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEih56-_3ghD4NTU-9OCWx792fVBMnKvAI2bqK78M-mMWNAGLKXb0alWMzVcyR4lB3lfiwYgYysUJpN0XGl9a79zKhAm3vtzmE-3ujI5S8tniqWuOB2F97_s4FWkyFpbX4uAsO1mGCOzNQmD8WPQmjz1yYjlM-hluYfUQYIYfwVnp0uDiaDSDB9Y9mWy=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">The moniker of Stick Season is certainly apt for this month between the blazing colors of autumn and the sweeping snow and lacy frost that decorate winter. I prefer all the other seasons to this one. Even Mud Season, on the other side of winter, at least holds the promise of more light and warmth and blooming. </span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">During Stick Season, I will myself to appreciate the little things, the everyday blessings. I revel in the sunny days, even if they’re cold, just for the fullness of light. I am thankful for the leaves that hold on for a bit longer – on the rugosa hedge and the lilac bushes. For the lingering golden glow of the tamaracks. And for the views – both macro and micro – that open up during Stick Season: mountain vistas obscured in other seasons by dense foliage, a cecropia moth cocoon hanging in the cold light from a now-bare branch.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I notice things I miss in other months. The deer that come to eat fallen apples in our just-mown field, which at the start of autumn was filled with a riot of goldenrods and asters in various hues. The few ferns that remain green through the year – even now, amid the browns and grays – but are just part of the landscape of color during summer and early fall. The artful form of trees emerging in their bareness: the bend of each trunk, the spread of branches ending in intricate webs of twigs. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It seems right, too, that Thanksgiving comes near the end of this month, this Stick Season. It is easy, perhaps, to be thankful for spring’s pastel flowers and summer’s easy cheerfulness, for the colors of autumn and the festivities of winter. Stick Season allows us – or forces us, perhaps – to consider the things right before us and to contemplate the things for which we are thankful. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;">Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay appears as Meghan's November 4, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton Record.</i><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"> </span></span></p></div>Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-44580232796269636202021-10-07T06:40:00.004-04:002021-10-07T06:40:36.838-04:00Twenty Years Home<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--> Twenty years ago this month, I landed in Franconia. This
place was already familiar, as I’d spent all of my childhood winters skiing at
Cannon and rare summer days splashing in the cool Ham Branch and climbing the
mountains nearby. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUG4-mWVbLYB9TelnThAf8nhdl1SscSmGuUi_T6PqehTCjz_kdqeCy1xEj_QNWUFJquNn0nYzdEgmJ50I62_BfPxAib9FyLelwjxXSIn-8MXZUpE81pUk4V40QE4QgDWPF5KJGF0ILzbc/s960/CTH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUG4-mWVbLYB9TelnThAf8nhdl1SscSmGuUi_T6PqehTCjz_kdqeCy1xEj_QNWUFJquNn0nYzdEgmJ50I62_BfPxAib9FyLelwjxXSIn-8MXZUpE81pUk4V40QE4QgDWPF5KJGF0ILzbc/w400-h300/CTH.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>But it wasn’t home. <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I arrived in Franconia late on a mid-October night after a
cross-country drive with my mom, who’d flown out to Colorado to make the long
trek back East with me. Except for a few boxes of stuff I’d shipped, everything
I owned – including my somewhat neurotic cat, Fiona – was crammed into my
little Subaru. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I was 27, fresh off a six-month stint guiding horse treks
and waiting tables and getting pretty close to blending into a small town on
the west coast of Ireland, where I was known alternately as “the horsey girl”
or “the Yank who plays soccer.” The five years prior to that I’d spent in
Crested Butte, Colorado, working ski town jobs to live a ski town life of
sliding through snow all winter and hiking and riding my mountain bike all
summer. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I could have stayed in those mountains forever, but I
didn’t. I thought – twice – that I was on my way to grad school. Instead, I
decided to return to Ireland, the place of my ancestors and where I’d spent a
summer during college – a place I’ve seen in my dreams all my life. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Now, here I was, five years out of college, adrift. I’d
spent the better part of the past week saying goodbye – first to the craggy
coastline and my friends in Renvyle, then to the tall mountains and my Colorado
friends. I had developed some sort of hybrid accent during my six months
abroad, so even my voice seemed strange. All of my worldly possessions were
crammed into a small car. I was essentially homeless and jobless – and broke. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If you had asked me then where I thought I’d be in 20 years’
time, I guarantee the answer would not have been, “Franconia, New Hampshire.”
This was just where I was going to crash for a while, staying with my parents,
until I figured out the next thing. I thought I’d end up somewhere bigger.
Portsmouth, maybe. Or Portland. Or Concord. Definitely somewhere in northern
New England, much, I believe, to my mother’s relief. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">When I went west to Colorado, my folks thought I’d be gone a
season, maybe a year. When I told them half a decade later that I was heading
to Ireland, I think they thought two things – one, that I had lost my mind (or
at least my drive), and two, that I was never, ever coming home to New England.
I may have considered those two things in my own mind, too.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But in that funny way that life has of nudging us in unexpected
directions, it was my time in Ireland that led me back to New England. I loved Crested
Butte, and for five years that quirky little town nestled into big mountains
was home. But I knew I was done waiting tables and working retail and helping
to take care of the very expensive, very big houses of people who spent a few
weeks a year there. I’d grown tired of the job prospects (or lack of), and of
the new crop of 18- to 22-year-olds who arrived in town each fall, even if I’d
been one of them not that long ago. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Renvyle had also felt like home. I had friends and work buddies
and my soccer teammates. I had green fields and wild hedges of gorse and fuscia
and the smell of the sea almost everywhere I went. But I did not have a work
visa and was therefore limited in my ability to make a living. I stuck to my
original plan of staying for six months, which meant I boarded a plane just
weeks after 9-11. I cried miserably at the airport gate and felt as if I’d
landed in another world – not returned home – when I arrived hours later in
Denver. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sometimes, those years in Colorado and the months in Ireland
seem like a different lifetime. But my time in both of those places, the
experiences I had there, the people I knew have become a part of who I am, of
the way I think, of how I view my world. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">And yet, it seems, I am a New Englander through and through.
Sure, I grew up in a different part of New England, in a different sort of town
– one with several main highways passing through it, with fast food joints and
a real downtown and traffic lights (and even a good old New England rotary). But
the landscape of my heart includes old houses and white-painted steeples, farms
and forests, mountains and lakes and the sea. I would be lost without apples
and colorful leaves in fall, snow in winter, mud and pastel blooms come springtime,
and the heat and humidity and sprawling green of summer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When it was time to set down roots, I did it here, in a
place that had not quite been home, but was close. Franconia is partly the
sort-of-home of my childhood and fully the one I chose as an adult. It is here
that I have spent a large chunk of my life – more years than in any other place
– building a career, raising children, growing vegetables, finding a community. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">For years, when people would ask me where I was from, I’d
hem and haw and give some roundabout answer about growing up in Massachusetts,
childhood winters in New Hampshire, college in upstate New York, time in
Colorado and Ireland. Now, though, if someone asks, “Where’s home?” the answer
is easy: Franconia, New Hampshire.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's October 7, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record.</i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-61253014101951688792021-10-07T06:34:00.000-04:002021-10-07T06:34:03.997-04:00Out With a Fizzle<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
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</xml><![endif]--> Monday morning, the alarm clocks went off early in our house,
and three bleary-eyed kids rolled out of bed and into their first-day-of-school
outfits. In the kitchen, they jockeyed for counter space as they packed lunches
and assembled breakfast. Binders and notebooks and freshly-sharpened pencils
were packed into backpacks, along with lunchboxes and soccer gear – and maybe a
little bit of first day anxiety. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">And then – after the obligatory photos, of course – off they
went, to another new school year.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Each year it takes me a while to adjust to that first-day
quiet: the calm <i>after</i> the storm of back-to-school prep and the bustle of
getting out the door early in the morning. When the kids were little, the first
day of school set me to melancholy; the start of each school year was another
reminder of how fast they were growing, and I lamented moving from the easier
pace of summer days to the more scheduled – and busier – days of the school year. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">This year, though – despite the shocking fact that those once-little
kids are now in high school and middle school – I’ve been ready for the return
of the school year. The past two summers, and all through last year, I’ve been
working remotely. I’m thankful that I’m able to do so, but even with kids who no
longer really need me for the day-to-day nitty-gritty, it’s been a bit of a grind.
Those just-one-quick-question interruptions, times three kids, times multiple
“quick” questions each – well, let’s just say that while I’ll miss the kids,
I’m happy to return to my not-so-many-interruptions workday atmosphere.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This summer also went out with more of a fizzle than a bang.
We returned from a week on the Cape to trade in flipflops and sand for soccer
cleats and lined fields. At least the kids did. I mostly fit in work around
driving this one and that one and the other one to practices, which were
somehow almost always at different times and places. The high schoolers started
with double sessions two days after our arrival home. The littlest started a
week later. Throw in annual physicals, back-to-school haircuts, a dentist
appointment, outfitting everyone with clothing and school supplies, and a day
at the vet for the dog, and the last two weeks of summer were hardly footloose
and fancy free. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I’m not sure the kids were quite ready for summer to end.
But they’ll get into the school swing of things soon enough. And while I’m
fully aware that the school year family logistics will be no piece of cake, I’m
happy to be back to the relative calm of that 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. part of the day. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's September 25, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record.</i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-51262760407459502882021-08-06T06:24:00.001-04:002021-08-06T06:24:17.001-04:00A Tale of Two Summers<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--> Last summer opened with a good bit of trepidation; in the
midst of the pandemic, we brooded about not being able to travel far, worried
about what was safe and what was not, and lamented the disruption of cherished
summer traditions. As we approached this summer of 2021, conversely, things
were looking up: the kids had made it through a strange school year, our family
was fully vaccinated, and it felt like we’d return to a carefree summer of
freewheeling fun. </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUAL9ktsFm3lB6Bc9xXrvEEWAmLBBNs5H0jqKQ90JrdP3pjSv6eqG9Lo3MeIAkVeKK0WqlZSzhpR0rSunXnTuyeSslNhupaV-3EL9gLPy_5CWTn8ehIVgq-4UxrGYFbOrdChavuI2u0t4/s2048/TwoSummers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1460" data-original-width="2048" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUAL9ktsFm3lB6Bc9xXrvEEWAmLBBNs5H0jqKQ90JrdP3pjSv6eqG9Lo3MeIAkVeKK0WqlZSzhpR0rSunXnTuyeSslNhupaV-3EL9gLPy_5CWTn8ehIVgq-4UxrGYFbOrdChavuI2u0t4/w400-h285/TwoSummers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Now, as we enter these waning weeks of the summer (I know
it’s only early August, but I always feel that <i>whoosh</i> of time flying when
I turn the calendar from July to August), it seems that the tale of these two
summers wasn’t quite what we expected it to be. This summer, it turns out,
wasn’t better than last summer – or worse. It was just different. <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Despite the pandemic – or maybe, in some strange way,
because of it – our summer of 2020 was pretty great. Yes, it was weird to
eschew cookouts and gatherings. We were bummed to not fit in a trip to Cape Cod
with my folks, and even more disappointed to miss the usual visits from
far-away cousins. We missed the spring soccer season that spills into summer.
We missed family sessions of mini golf. We missed impromptu trips to – well,
anywhere, really. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">By necessity, we embraced local wonders more than ever. And
one of the huge perks of the summer of 2020 was that all our local friends were
here; nobody was traipsing off for a week at the beach, trips out west or
abroad, or time away at summer camp. Instead, we’d gather by our favorite
swimming holes late in the afternoons, the kids splashing around and jumping
off rocks and downed trees, the moms soaking up the sun and catching up. We
refurbished forgotten mountain bike trails in the woods by our house and created
a couple new ones. We paddled around in kayaks, looking for turtles and sliding
into the water to cool off. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And through the month of July, the kids and I hiked. Sometimes
it was just the four of us on the trail, but often one group or another of our hiking
friends joined us. From the first day of the month to the last, we crossed
eight of the state’s 48 4,000-footers off our list. We even added a couple of
overnights – my kids’ first ever backpacking adventures, and my first in a good
long while. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">This summer, though, we’ve hit the trail only a few times. I
don’t know that we’ve had a single lazy afternoon by the river with friends.
And the kayaks have been loaded into the truck and slipped into the water only
one time so far.</p><p class="MsoNormal">The start to our summer was partly consumed by the tail end
of a competitive spring soccer season of busy weekends. The two teenagers in
the family started their first jobs in June, which made spontaneous hikes and
river trips and anything else nearly impossible. The weather has been weird.
And fitting in hiking trips or other outings with friends has proved difficult,
with other teenagers working and other families taking vacations at different
times. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Instead, this July opened – very happily so – with a visit
from my California brother and his family and wrapped up with a visit from the
Tennessee contingent. There was tons of cousin time, late nights of visiting
and kids running around, and short visits from more extended family thrown into
the mix. These cousin visits are among my children’s most cherished summertime
traditions, made even sweeter this year by last year’s hiatus. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Another summer tradition returning this year: our pilgrimage
to the sandy shores of Cape Cod and the beaches my brothers and I visited when
we were kids. Summer may be fading faster than I’d like. But I’ll get my toes
in the sand before it goes. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's August 5, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record.</i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-21729410400735158982021-07-02T09:04:00.001-04:002021-07-02T09:04:15.544-04:00The Beautiful Game<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--> When my kids were in kindergarten, I started coaching their
soccer teams through the local recreation department. I love soccer. Loved
playing it as a kid, then in college, then out in Colorado, and for one summer
on a ragtag team of women from teenaged to middle-aged in Ireland. So of course
I loved coaching it, too. It was gratifying to see the kids – my own and their
classmates – progress from kindergarten all the way through elementary school,
at which point I moved to the spectating side of the field.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebzttHXFKrJUBw7u5w5KsKncCTO6oU-RV3WS4p2x1QTk4CVMoKIWODxIyV1qdzq6_Po_bKBz6viFTo5auFj88L7I-NB8zCUrIwY6CrmITWM9ArVepziYyxJ-qB86oh9gDZZBf3UF5hxI/s544/soccer+ball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="534" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebzttHXFKrJUBw7u5w5KsKncCTO6oU-RV3WS4p2x1QTk4CVMoKIWODxIyV1qdzq6_Po_bKBz6viFTo5auFj88L7I-NB8zCUrIwY6CrmITWM9ArVepziYyxJ-qB86oh9gDZZBf3UF5hxI/s320/soccer+ball.jpg" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">It was a bit of a bummer last fall when my youngest and her
classmates missed out on their last year of rec soccer – and their last chance
to vie for the coveted Halloween Cup, that annual end-of-the-season tournament,
played on the home field, right next to the playground they’ve all been
swinging and sliding and climbing through since they were toddlers. My friend
Mike and I still got to coach the kids in practices and intrateam scrimmages,
but it wasn’t quite the same without the competition of playing against other
teams. And while I sympathized with the kids, I also felt a twinge of my own
remorse for missing out on this last year of coaching. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Still, I hesitated this spring when I was asked to help with
my youngest daughter’s club team. Just having two of my kids playing spring
soccer was a big time commitment, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to add one more
thing to my plate. But in the end, I figured if I was going to be sitting at
practices and driving to games anyway, I may as well help out – as long as I
didn’t have to be in charge of planning practices or any of the administrative
stuff. Basically, I agreed to be there to follow someone else’s lead. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">In all the years I’ve coached (both soccer and skiing) I’ve
been lucky to have some strong leads to follow. I’ve learned from the people
I’ve coached with – and from watching many of the coaches who have guided my
kids’ athletic endeavors when I’m on the other side of the field (or the ski
slope) with the spectators. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This spring’s coaching experience was different than
coaching fall soccer. Many of the kids, I met for the first time in April, when
we started kicking the ball around inside. Some of them I knew from two years
ago – pre Covid – when they’d first played on the same team with my daughter.
The only one I’d known since kindergarten was my own. One of the perks of coaching, though, is that you get to know the
kids differently than when you’re a parent on the sideline. And this group of
girls was super fun to get to know. They are silly while still being
competitive. Smart. Sometimes a little sassy. Tough. And supremely coachable. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Scott, whose lead I got to follow this spring, is one of those
coaches who has an innate ability to connect with players. If you’ve ever had a
good coach, you’ll know what I mean here. They exude good energy. They’re
almost always positive. They expect you to play to your potential and will tell
you – in a constructive way – when you can do better. When you have a coach
like that, you always try your hardest, always want to play more, play better. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">These girls worked hard and had fun through the season, whether
it was 90 degrees and oppressively humid or 45 and raining. Girls who early in
the season told me they simply <i>couldn’t</i> kick the ball with their left
foot were, by June, making defensive clears, attacking crosses, and even a goal
or two – with that left foot. Girls who had been timid during the first games
became confident. Girls who hardly knew each other off the field somehow
connected on it – learning which passes to send and which runs to make and how
to work together. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sometimes, on the sidelines during games, we coaches meted
out tactical advice. Often, we just watched the girls play and relished their
love of the game. Who knows where soccer might lead them? Onto a high school
team, maybe, or even college. To a team in a Colorado ski town, or a village in
the west of Ireland. Perhaps, someday, these girls will be on the coaching side
of the field, guiding the next group of youngsters through the beautiful game.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's July 1, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record.</i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-82954137306193249412021-06-10T08:27:00.006-04:002021-06-10T12:08:50.149-04:00Home Grown<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->I swear it wasn’t that long ago that I had three kids under
the age of 3. Sometimes it feels like it was just a few short months ago that I
had a toddler wrapped around each leg and a baby in my arms. Only a couple of
weeks back that all three could still climb into my lap together for a bedtime
story. Just the other day that they were learning to <a href="http://writingsfromafulllife.blogspot.com/2015/05/letting-go.html" target="_blank">pedal tricycles</a>, <a href="http://writingsfromafulllife.blogspot.com/2013/02/paying-my-dues-on-pony-slope.html" target="_blank">ski down the bunny hill</a>, and sound out words.
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQsyQTz08Kz3RfVOGl-N_YYDdNvytLeR9AynmUql2tH-ekfIhAK9BoeqWUZXcTtnvUOvCuaGnnMOdBbds4TDJDWolXx1KHmId2Nh1KzP6yE25Pi_0G6oPKOsNmAFRRBvWpe9DqzQZ3R2o/s2048/7-30-20+Kinsmans+with+McLawtons+-+view+above+pond.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1294" data-original-width="2048" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQsyQTz08Kz3RfVOGl-N_YYDdNvytLeR9AynmUql2tH-ekfIhAK9BoeqWUZXcTtnvUOvCuaGnnMOdBbds4TDJDWolXx1KHmId2Nh1KzP6yE25Pi_0G6oPKOsNmAFRRBvWpe9DqzQZ3R2o/w400-h253/7-30-20+Kinsmans+with+McLawtons+-+view+above+pond.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>But somehow, now, my oldest has to bend slightly to hug me,
and next week my not-so-little littlest wraps up her elementary school days in
a place that’s been a part of our family’s life and daily routine for most of
the last decade. She’s ready to move on – the kids always are by the time
they’ve progressed from small kindergarteners to almost-teenagers. And I’m
calmer about this milestone than I thought I might be, but I’m betting it’ll
take a while before I get used to turning the other way, toward a different
school, at the bottom of our hill for the daily drop-off and pickup. <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I remember standing in the elementary school foyer on the
first day of kindergarten for my older two children. Back then, I was used to
preschool-sized kids who couldn’t quite pronounce their Rs and were still
learning to tie their shoelaces. On that morning, as my two 5-year-olds stuck
close to my side, a bit anxious about their first day in the “big school,” the
6<sup>th</sup> graders seemed enormous and so grown up.
</p><p class="MsoNormal">Now, of course, my perspective has shifted. I am used to
(although sometimes still surprised by) the still-growing stature of my
daughter and her 6<sup>th</sup> grade classmates, who are all approaching or
have already surpassed my height. But those kindergarteners seem so tiny – even
if it sometimes seems like last week that my own kids were that small. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The end of each school year is one of those times when it’s
easy to contemplate the changes in our children. Some are moving on from
preschool, others – who, really, were learning their shapes and letters in
preschool not so long ago – are graduating from high school or (gulp) college.
So, their growing up offspring is at the top of many parents’ minds. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When your children are babies, it seems as if everyone –
parents of older kids, strangers in the grocery store – tells you to “enjoy
every minute,” that it passes quickly. And, on some level, you know they’re
right. But then you’re also in the midst of changing diapers and cutting food
into tiny pieces and being woken at all hours of the night. It’s exhausting. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">All that exhaustion fades into the background, however, when
a small human, whose world literally revolves around you, hands you a <a href="http://writingsfromafulllife.blogspot.com/2019/05/in-praise-of-dandelions.html" target="_blank">bouquet of dandelions</a> or blows a kiss from the outfield in a t-ball game or snuggles in
with a favorite stuffy for a cuddle – or says in a voice impossibly sweet, “I
love you, Mama.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And the next thing you know, they’re asking for the keys to
<a href="https://writingsfromafulllife.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-minivan.html" target="_blank">the minivan</a> so they can go out with their friends. OK, OK, so we’re not quite
there yet. But judging by how fast these years seem to go, we’ll get there next
week. Or tomorrow. Or five minutes from now. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's June 10, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record.</i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-61676951943435005782021-05-26T19:46:00.000-04:002021-05-26T19:46:03.302-04:00Forward<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
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</xml><![endif]--> Three more weeks. That’s how long my kids have to wait until
they’re fully vaccinated. While most shots – to protect against such seemingly
far-fetched ailments as tetanus and polio and diphtheria – are events to be
dreaded at annual doctor’s office visits, the coronavirus vaccine was one all
three of my children were eager to get.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTu4I3gXz7rbBbp1-sHZaAio5mMig-HHqDwC-scYK8o91dvwal-Nwk-Ea4QoWkeOteF1U-ySeE2Lhs-XCsLuBCcL-immSBy9j4XKemRMiKs4LbiFX0r6E-k5OtG4DXCtYDt_kwSxmv8jg/s2048/vax+sticker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1922" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTu4I3gXz7rbBbp1-sHZaAio5mMig-HHqDwC-scYK8o91dvwal-Nwk-Ea4QoWkeOteF1U-ySeE2Lhs-XCsLuBCcL-immSBy9j4XKemRMiKs4LbiFX0r6E-k5OtG4DXCtYDt_kwSxmv8jg/s320/vax+sticker.jpg" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This vaccine lifts a world of worry from their shoulders,
one I hadn’t fully realized they’d been carrying these last long 14 months.
Yes, getting the vaccine will mean less mask wearing and more hanging out with
friends. But it is so much more than that. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When vaccination opened to the 12- to 16-year-old age group,
I scheduled first shot appointments for early June, figuring the kids would be
out of school by their second dose, and more easily able to handle any side
effects. But when I happily announced this news, all three said they wanted
their shots sooner. As soon as possible. They were tired of waiting. Tired of
wondering when they’ll be able to hang out with friends – whenever and wherever
they’d like – without masks. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They are done with pandemic worry. They are ready to move
forward. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My kids have been lucky this past academic year to have
spent almost all of it <i>in</i> school. Yes, they wore masks to class, for
hours a day. Yes, they had to stick with their limited cohorts, which meant no
mingling at lunch tables or in hallways – and, for my 6<sup>th</sup> grader,
missing out on many of the traditional last-year-of-elementary-school events,
including the field trip to Boston, a series of outdoor education hikes in the
mountains, and getting to be leaders for various activities of mixed age groups
at school. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But they have not been isolated. Their human interaction has
not been limited to seeing friends and classmates only through a screen. They
played soccer in the fall and competed in ski races through winter, both
activities that are as much about being with friends as they are about athletics
and competition. When they had questions about schoolwork, they were able to
ask their teachers in person. They’ve had the welcome routine of going to
school each weekday morning. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Still, amid all of this not-quite-normal, there’s been an
underlying fear. Fear of getting sick. Fear of getting someone else sick. Fear
of being ostracized if they did contract Covid. Being vaccinated won’t
eliminate this anxiety entirely, but it alleviates it in a huge way. One shot
in, my kids are already feeling that Covid concern ease a bit. One down, one to
go. Forward.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's May 27, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record.</i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-35164171116269035632021-05-13T05:56:00.005-04:002021-05-13T05:56:55.830-04:00Weeds & Seeds<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--> Spring opens, most years, with a
one-step-forward-two-steps-back dance. Cold rain and snow twirl around sunshine
and warmth, as the odd summer-like day and maybe an unexpected frost cut in now
and then. Through this spring cha-cha, the landscape greens up, the earliest
flowers – both wild and cultivated – bloom, and the trees unfurl their leaves. As
color seeps back into the world, gardening tasks lengthen my to-do list. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2CraiFoSpQUrKXPzuIYBfto884NxPgf_06KiQGvnqi6AGI-R_jqb_um0SLR6V2oGCP5YR-uPKUKg6rRt9IF6a1V89z0v00R16U1GAI8bGrE5JcYDGyvXOKjMkrRbYV1DZwWy97dJ5Kc/s2769/zinnias.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2769" data-original-width="2203" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2CraiFoSpQUrKXPzuIYBfto884NxPgf_06KiQGvnqi6AGI-R_jqb_um0SLR6V2oGCP5YR-uPKUKg6rRt9IF6a1V89z0v00R16U1GAI8bGrE5JcYDGyvXOKjMkrRbYV1DZwWy97dJ5Kc/s320/zinnias.jpg" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With a spattering of veggie beds and a perennial garden we
revamped during last spring’s time of Staying Home, I’ve been fitting the
gardening in between work hours and soccer games, woods wanderings and playing
catch in the yard, dinnertime and bedtime. Much like spring, my gardening
efforts come in fits and starts. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As soon as the growing things emerge, it seems the weeds
quickly outpace whatever it is we’ve planted. Last week, my son and I plucked
new weeds from the front garden and spread mulch around clumps of daylilies and
irises, moonbeam coreopsis and barely out-of-the-ground astilbe stalks. We got
about halfway through the job before running out of mulch, and the other half
remains on hold until we have the time (and the truck) to collect more.
Cha-cha-cha.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After considering what edibles to plant this season, waiting
(and waiting, and waiting) for warmer weather, and sketching out what will go
where, on Saturday I dropped the year’s first veggie seeds into one of the
raised beds the kids helped my dad build last year. Into the freshly turned
soil, I carefully sowed snow peas and beet seeds and spring greens. Still to
come: green beans, carrots, squash, cucumbers, sungold tomatoes, maybe a row or
two of potatoes, a few onions. It may take me the next month to get everything
in, but it will happen. Eventually. Cha-cha-cha. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Last year, I grew two rows of zinnias between the snap peas
and the bush beans in the big vegetable garden out back. This year, I think I
may fill one of the smaller garden boxes in the side yard entirely with flowers
– more zinnias and sunflowers and maybe some snapdragons. These, of course, we
cannot eat. (Well, maybe the sunflower seeds, but we’ll likely leave those for
the birds.) But they are nourishing in other, also important ways. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Through spring’s uncertain dance and into summer I’ll wait,
hopeful, for the seeds to sprout, then for the stems to grow tall, and for the
tightly furled buds to open. I don’t know what this dance is called – not a
cha-cha or a waltz or a tango – but the choreography is pretty close to perfect.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's May 13, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record.</i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-87380311949328674462021-04-29T06:21:00.006-04:002021-04-29T06:21:58.494-04:00Nature NerdAmong some of my friends, I have a reputation for being a
bit of a nature nerd. In winter, I scan ski trails for animal tracks from the
chairlift. I can’t travel a back road without peering at tree hollows and
fields to see what animals might be hiding or foraging there. On walks through
the woods, I’m easily distracted by wildflowers, weird lichen, and scat.<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQAmjj8SjMjD073mBKRk4qL9njUoJpIi2_ObpR_neOvD46H-5wsl3ZiiNXrIrXAwLgFkK56yKq2o5BJZQg2t78DmWP9RHiL05myDgFPutUpqwpu3TiUb6z8cYPvb_1WMnoMk-Fa_1ZKOs/s1369/bloodroot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1297" data-original-width="1369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQAmjj8SjMjD073mBKRk4qL9njUoJpIi2_ObpR_neOvD46H-5wsl3ZiiNXrIrXAwLgFkK56yKq2o5BJZQg2t78DmWP9RHiL05myDgFPutUpqwpu3TiUb6z8cYPvb_1WMnoMk-Fa_1ZKOs/s320/bloodroot.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So it was a joy last week to wander a swath of forest with
my colleagues from the nonprofit organization where I work, whose mission is,
in part, to foster an understanding of and appreciation for the natural wonders
of forests. It was a happy gathering of nature nerds – made even more so,
perhaps, by the cool spring sunshine and because this was the first time we’d
all been together in over a year. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">As children, we have with an innate sense of curiosity about
the world around us. Why is the sky blue? Where did that word come from? How do
birds fly? What do worms eat? Why do stars sparkle? I remember being inundated
by Whats and Whys and Hows when my kids were little. And then, at some point,
that curiosity – at least for many of us – subsides as we become more occupied
with school and jobs and sports and social activities. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For me, this curiosity waned for a while, but returned well
into adulthood. I think it was sparked when my children started asking so many
questions, inspiring me to seek at least some of the answers. My now teenaged
and almost-teenaged children still ask questions, if not so frequently. But
when it comes to the natural world, I’m the one who drives <i>them</i> nuts,
asking questions and stopping to take photos of both familiar and unknown discoveries.
No matter how many birds I learn to identify, how many wildflowers I can name,
or how many intriguing animal habits I read about or observe, there is always
so much more to learn. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Years ago, I attended a nature writing conference in
northern Vermont, where I joined the early morning birding walks. I knew next
to nothing about birds, couldn’t identify much more than a chickadee and a
robin. One morning I was walking along a dirt road with the program director,
Dave, when the guide pointed out some species I no longer recall. I said
something like, “<i>That </i>little thing?” Dave chuckled and suggested I might
try to seem a bit more impressed if I found myself near more serious birders. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, when I see a bird in the yard I can’t identify, I zoom
in as far as my little camera will allow and snap a photo so I can compare it
to my field guides and check the Cornell Lab’s incredible All About Birds website.
If I’m still stuck, I send the photo to my Northern Woodlands colleague Dan,
who will tell me if I’m guessing correctly or, if not, what important features
I’ve missed on the path to bird ID. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Gradually, the number of birds I can identify – by sight or
song – has grown, though I’m still no birding expert. (I think I will forever
be befuddled by woodpeckers.) </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some of what I’ve learned – about birds and bugs and flowers
and mammals and trees – is through personal observation and education. Other
things I’ve picked up through researching some story or another that I’m
writing. Much of it I’ve gleaned from reading and editing the work of writers
who are introducing me – and many other readers – to aspects of the world
around us I’d never known, or even thought to wonder about. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">During our walk last week, we meandered among oak and ash
and hemlock trees, past rock ledges where bobcats and porcupines and turkey
vultures and many other creatures roam. We found myriad wildflowers scattered
across the forest floor, tucked into crevices or growing tall through the leaf
litter. Wood ducks took flight from a vernal pool as we neared, and we heard a
yellow-bellied sapsucker rat-a-tat-tatting at a tree – and found lots of places
where sapsuckers had tapped rows of perfect, tiny holes into bark. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On this walk, I was not the only one stopping and stooping
to inspect scat or snap photographs of familiar flowers – or of unfamiliar ones
to look up later. And often, when I had a question, someone else in our little
posse knew the answer. It was a pleasant way to spend part of the day –
fostering our own understanding of and appreciation for the natural world. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's April 29, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record. </i></i> <br /></p>
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<![endif]-->Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-81769367986747034892021-04-07T17:00:00.002-04:002021-04-07T17:02:53.710-04:00Time Flies<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
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</xml><![endif]--> This week, my oldest offspring selected classes for their
first year of high school. Even as I type that sentence, I can hardly wrap my
mind around it: two of my children will be high schoolers in a few short
months, and my baby a middle schooler. No matter that two of them are now
taller than I am, and the third is gaining on me quickly, I can still picture all
three as newborns, toddlers, little kids.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4z364yqBJKggHibnkBQG3c2QwkG5Dl0kHXAkJpU0s1M_3Dj5J9M2hfr1ZeErxf79AV_MZirY2BhX7RdNjMtBVVGbXE9h9lLf3F4Mkyu_gHfu1P1INdsUOqisP7U1xOzckekB3UzPZfrA/s1603/the+girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1603" data-original-width="1194" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4z364yqBJKggHibnkBQG3c2QwkG5Dl0kHXAkJpU0s1M_3Dj5J9M2hfr1ZeErxf79AV_MZirY2BhX7RdNjMtBVVGbXE9h9lLf3F4Mkyu_gHfu1P1INdsUOqisP7U1xOzckekB3UzPZfrA/s320/the+girls.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The girls, when they were little.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>I don’t think I would say I <i>miss</i> the days of tending
to infants or preschoolers or any other bygone stage<br /> of my children’s younger
years. I have loved each of my children – and gotten to know them – through the
progression of their childhoods. Despite the trials of the “terrible twos” and
the “sassy sixes” and the excessive eye rolling that happens in my house these
days, I’ve enjoyed most parts of every phase of their growing up.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When I look at photos from years past, or when we’re sitting
around swapping “Remember When” stories, it is easy to feel nostalgic, though I
don’t have any desire to go back in time. Contemplating the tiny,
chubby-cheeked, big-eyed kids in those photos, however, makes me realize –
again and again – how quickly these years pass by. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">It really wasn’t all that long ago that I had three kids
under the age of 3. Then three preschoolers, then three in elementary school.
Back when they were all in diapers – and pretty much dependent on me for
everything – someone told me, “The days are long, but the years are short.” Whoever
first uttered that adage obviously had raised children. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">These days, I sometimes feel a sense of woeful panic at how
few years of childhood my children have left. Four more years. That’s what
remains until my older two move on to whatever comes after high school. A mere
four years ago, they were in the midst of their elementary school years, and four
years from now, they’ll be legal adults. It doesn’t seem possible – to me or to
them. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">One of my children has said to me several times lately, “It
seems like time is passing by so quickly.” And it’s no wonder. These middle
school years are the bridge between being a little kid and becoming an
almost-grownup. My teenagers are newly and acutely aware that childhood has an expiration
date, even if the exact deadline is obscure. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I have a clear memory of an 11-year-old me sitting with a
friend on a summer afternoon, days before we entered middle school, and saying
to her that it felt like time was flying by, that soon we’d be in high school,
then college, then who-knows-where. In that moment, that looming change seemed
overwhelming. I could see adulthood on the horizon, even as it was still years
away. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">She laughed, and a few minutes later, we were off again,
riding our bikes through the hazy summer day, as carefree as the children we
still were. That’s the mercurial nature of this time in my children’s lives –
one moment thoughtfully considering some serious responsibility, the next
playing a silly made-up game with friends or siblings. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I can also clearly remember the anxiety of dropping my kids
off at preschool for the first time, then at kindergarten in the “big school” a
couple of years later. Even back then, I thought, “How are they so <i>big </i>already?!?”
Sometimes, still, it feels as if just last week they were so small I could snuggle
all three together in my lap. I can’t imagine how I’ll feel when they step out
into the great big world all on their own.
</p><p class="MsoNormal">And so I keep reminding myself – in the moments when I’m
facing eye-rolling, contrary, children in the process of growing up – that
these days, too, may sometimes seem long, but the years are as short as ever. I
bask in the happy times we spend together and in our shared adventures. I try
to offer advice and comfort in those moments when these children of mine feel
stressed or sad or worried. I strive – not always successfully – to keep my
temper when they push buttons and boundaries. And when one of them needs a hug,
I lean in and hold on, for as long as they want, until they let go.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's April 8, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record. </i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-19914637347175646672021-03-24T15:36:00.001-04:002021-03-24T15:36:11.944-04:00Hello, Spring<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->As anyone who reads this column even occasionally knows, I
love winter. When others are lamenting the arrival of cold and snow in December
– and its continuation after the winter holidays and beyond – I am hoping for
more snow and enough cold to sustain good skiing.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvT8tZkwnCuIXkgtqwnPLeX1XgA5ge07jMiUJxrnzbqz_A6KuPJQ7gBKnPmB1eqb7t0h7BpJKzmMuPBGkQ1kS52DSShAnKURLkx95cPHpCn1jjYKqK1hv5QWHDdpe14aFsph2RqQDy6mM/s2048/SpringMountains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1275" data-original-width="2048" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvT8tZkwnCuIXkgtqwnPLeX1XgA5ge07jMiUJxrnzbqz_A6KuPJQ7gBKnPmB1eqb7t0h7BpJKzmMuPBGkQ1kS52DSShAnKURLkx95cPHpCn1jjYKqK1hv5QWHDdpe14aFsph2RqQDy6mM/w400-h249/SpringMountains.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>After the stretch of warm, sunny days we had last week and
into this one, though, it’s hard not to look forward to spring. <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Last weekend featured two blue-bird days on the mountain.
Sunday afternoon, after exploring some of Cannon’s finer spots for skiing and
sightseeing with the group of 6- and 7-year-olds I help coach, I met up with my
own kids and enjoyed the rare occasion of skiing with all three of them. (Yes,
they now have to wait for Mom at the bottom most runs.) It was so warm that I
stripped down to a t-shirt and vest. We eschewed the most crowded places on the
mountain for long, sunny chairlift rides and laps of turning through perfectly
soft, not-quite-slushy snow. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Once home, the kids swapped ski duds for shorts. There was
front porch sitting and passing of the football, as well as their recent favorite
driveway game – while they wait for the yard to melt out – wall ball off the
last big snowbank in the shady (and muddy) corner of the driveway. We checked
out the spiky shoots of the crocuses poking through the barely thawed dirt of
the window garden, and we’re keeping an eye on the front garden, where we planted
bulbs between the perennials last fall.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even the dog, who embraces just about any kind of weather,
has seemed happier than usual outside. She’s taken to lying in her favorite
warm weather spots again and looks at us mournfully when we suggest it’s time
to come in. If there’s sun to lie in, mud to get messy in, and a few remnant
patches of snow for blissful rolling, she is a happy girl. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">We weren’t, of course, the only ones soaking in the early
spring goodness. Baselodge restrictions this year have brought the ski area
tailgating game to a whole new level, and every parking lot at the mountain boasted
mini grills, chairs and tables set up next to truck beds, and folks enjoying a
variety of beverages. On the short drive home, we saw three bicyclists pedaling
away, seemingly oblivious to the months-long pileup of road salt and sand along
the road edges. People were out doing yard work or playing in the park or gathering
with neighbors in driveways.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve been around long enough to know that a couple of nice
weeks in March does not mean spring is really here. I’m certain it will snow
again before we get through April – probably the day after the snow tires come
off my car. In the meantime, I’ll take all the t-shirt-skiing, front-porch-sitting,
early-blooming-flowers, and gathering-together-in-the-sun days that come my
way. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's March 25, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record. </i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-45348486285632605072021-03-11T06:36:00.006-05:002021-03-11T06:38:09.141-05:00A Year Far from Normal<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->A year ago this week, lots of things changed. Over the
course of a weekend and with little preparation, my kids’ schools moved to
remote learning. My boss called to say the office would be closed until future
notice. Ski season ended early and abruptly. All matter of plans were canceled
or indefinitely delayed. At first, I thought this everything-is-shutting-down phase
would last only a couple of weeks, then the whole pandemic thing would blow
over, and we’d be back to normal. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpFfvxw_qaLl1poLTJAjCR4KITno-E9pdmivdHXWYuLpXYyCyjwhTe0fsxxl_FPfL_3ebgMUdPRX5SlHHEFukRP0gohDyGPY-dvMnVwQpMnKW3oTrJbVKCcoFLJagCy7rOEZje24cnjw/s2048/Light.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Is that the light at the end of the tunnel?" border="0" data-original-height="1098" data-original-width="2048" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpFfvxw_qaLl1poLTJAjCR4KITno-E9pdmivdHXWYuLpXYyCyjwhTe0fsxxl_FPfL_3ebgMUdPRX5SlHHEFukRP0gohDyGPY-dvMnVwQpMnKW3oTrJbVKCcoFLJagCy7rOEZje24cnjw/w320-h172/Light.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is that the light at the end of the tunnel?<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>A year later, I’m not sure what “normal” means anymore. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>In the first weeks of “isolation,” we did, indeed, feel
isolated. I took to doing the grocery shopping only once a week – no swinging
into the store on the way home for a gallon of milk or a carton of ice cream, especially
since we weren’t going anywhere anyway. I’d drive straight there, then straight
home. The only other stop was the gas station if I needed to fill the tank, but
I was driving so infrequently that those stops were rare. <br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">For weeks, we hardly saw anyone other than ourselves. We’d
occasionally walk over to my parents’ house or stop by my in-laws’ to visit
outside. There was a group of five or six college kids who spent a couple of
months in the house around the corner after their campus closed, and they’d
come through the front field chasing frisbees. Virtual meetings hadn’t become
the norm yet, so we only saw other people, even through a screen, maybe once a
week or so. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Until April, when two friends who happen to be next door neighbors
to each other – my youngest daughter’s pal, and my son’s buddy – had a drive-by
birthday party. A line of a dozen or so cars gathered on a side street off
their quiet road and waited for the allotted time. Then we drove by their houses
slowly, honking like crazy and waving out the windows of our cars. It was so
strange. And so wonderful to SEE people, our friends, folks who not so long ago
we’d interacted with face-to-face almost daily, even if only in passing. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I hadn’t realized – not fully – how much I missed that
interaction. I cried most of the 10 minutes of that ride home, hiding behind my
sunglasses so I wouldn’t have to try to explain to my kids something I didn’t quite
understand myself. On that drive home, my youngest, who had a daily school check-in
with her class, said she wished she could see her friends in real life, not
through a computer – or out the window of a moving car. My older daughter
lamented the fact that she hadn’t seen any of her friends in weeks, virtually
or otherwise. My son said he missed his friends, too. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As summer arrived, we started venturing out more, meeting friends
at the river on hot afternoons or for hiking adventures or outside movie
nights. It wasn’t quite “normal,” but it was close. I took my kids on their first
backpacking outings, and we camped for a few days near the ocean in Maine. I embarked
on daily walks through the woods, a habit I continue, in large part to maintain
my sanity during these ongoing strange times. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Some of these things – the hiking and backyard fires and
gathering outside – probably would have happened over the course of 2020 anyway.
But I think I cherished this season – the pandemic summer that came after the
spring of so much weirdness – even more than usual. I was so grateful to live
where we live, to have woods right out the front door and mountains within sight.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I’ve been grateful since the end of that summer to have
my kids (mostly) back in school. I’m still not used to seeing them walk out the
schoolroom door with masks over their faces – and I probably never will be –
but I’m so thankful that they are IN school, that those masked faces are with
other masked faces. Learning together, rather than in the isolation of a quiet
bedroom, looking through a screen. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I’m thankful that educators and coaches and parents and
health care providers have figured out how to mitigate the dangers of the virus
so that my children can be in school and play sports – even if it looks
different. I’m thankful that we have been skiing through the winter. I’m
thankful that my work – and my husband’s – has continued through this, even
while I’m so, so, so tired of meetings on a screen. I’m thankful that so much
of our family lives within a couple of miles of us.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I know we have been fortunate in a year so devastating to so
many.<br /> <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">But I miss a lot of things, too. I miss hugging my friends. (So
much!) I miss big family dinners, with three generations of McCarthys and
McPhauls gathered together, sharing new stories and old. I miss planning trips
to other places. I miss talking to people and being able to see their whole
faces. I miss collaborating with colleagues through in-person meetings, or just
a quick walk across the hallway to someone else’s office space. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m tired of reminding my kids to grab a mask on their way
out the door – to anywhere. And of checking the state’s Covid map and numbers.
Every. Single. Day. I’m tired of worrying every time I feel a tickle in my throat
– or when someone sniffles next to me in some public, socially-distanced space. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">If the past year has taught me anything, it’s to try to take
things, as much as possible, day by day. To not plan too far in advance, at
least for now. But that is not my nature. So many times over the last 12
months, I have thought things would be back on the road to “normal” by next
week, or next month, or two seasons for now. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Last week, my parents got their second doses of the vaccine.
A little girl in the classroom where my mother was substitute teaching asked if
that meant she could hug my mom the next time she came in – like she used to.
We’re not quite there yet. But I think – really, this time – normal just may be
on the horizon.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's March 11, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record. </i></i> </p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-15530664271318207742021-02-24T15:16:00.001-05:002021-02-24T15:16:32.065-05:00Light Returning<p class="MsoNormal">Years ago, I was in a meeting where seasonal marketing was the
topic at hand, and a woman there suggested that February marks the beginning of
Spring. She was from a more southern realm, one, I imagine, where in February tulips
bloom and green leaves unfurl. Here, February is that place about three months into
our five – give or take – months of winter.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyltHpfAmmwOY5ptEjAXvQC9-ipMi7g7Pmk5fDLOucIbEVuly_3nfHqeWd_1RrT1hH8c1F0ItVeHVdsCwgC6uGMG4xi0UbZ69rNko_tfgIq2n1GTHI2SA1b86TVtzes1T09Q4h_oyn2eI/s3781/LightReturning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3781" data-original-width="2874" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyltHpfAmmwOY5ptEjAXvQC9-ipMi7g7Pmk5fDLOucIbEVuly_3nfHqeWd_1RrT1hH8c1F0ItVeHVdsCwgC6uGMG4xi0UbZ69rNko_tfgIq2n1GTHI2SA1b86TVtzes1T09Q4h_oyn2eI/s320/LightReturning.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">While spring still seems a long way off, however, there are
noticeable changes afoot. To me, the most welcome of these is the gradual
return of light. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The abundance of darkness is the only thing about winter I
do not like. I love the snow and the glittering of frost-covered trees. I can
deal with the cold, thanks to the wonders of fleece and down, central heating
(in our house via old steam radiators), a small space heater under my desk, and
the comforting glow of a blaze in the fireplace. But the dark can be tough –
physically, emotionally, mentally. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">It’s no wonder people have long celebrated the promise of lengthening
days during the darkest season of the year – centering holidays around the
solstice and engineering such marvels as Stonehenge to mark the sunset of the shortest
day. I dread the lingering creep of darkness each November, weeks before we arrive
at the first official day of winter. The distraction of Christmas and (in our
family) a month of birthdays beyond the winter holidays buoys me during the season’s
protracted darkness. But come February, I’m ready for a little bit more light,
maybe even a sustained hint of warmth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even for this winter lover, at this point, deep into the season,
I begin to feel as if I’ll never quite shake the chill of winter. As if the perennials
buried under layers of snow and ice in the front garden will never green up and
bloom. As if my thickly-stockinged feet will never again walk – unclad – along
warm sand or soft grass. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">But then, somewhere about half-way through this shortest
month, I notice the light returning. I can set off on a late afternoon ski
through the woods now and not worry about being caught in darkness. And on
school day mornings, when I rouse my daughter from sleep and raise the blinds
of her east-facing window, dawn is already breaking over the mountains. Only a
few weeks ago, that eastern sky was still pitch black so early in the day, and
darkness fell well before supper time each evening.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, it is still bright at 5 o’clock and not quite so dark on
the other side of the windows as we move around the kitchen preparing dinner.
On ski mornings, as we head down the hill toward the mountain, the sun is
higher in the sky. Some days, that sun is obscured by falling snow. And that is
the joy of February – it offers the best of two worlds: returning light and,
often, the best skiing of the season. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's February 25, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record. </i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-40993006650117146372021-02-10T15:15:00.000-05:002021-02-10T15:15:07.587-05:00Winter Worth the Wait<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->Winter was late in coming this year. The week after Christmas
(when it rained), I was still walking through the snowless woods in low boots,
and we were only skiing thanks to the wonder of manmade snow. We haven’t really
had a big storm yet this season, but the woods – behind our house and on the mountain
– have slowly filled with snow. Many days over the past two weeks, I’ve looked up
from my desk to see it snowing on the other side of the window – sometimes big,
fluffy flakes swirling casually toward the ground, sometimes a fast-falling wall
of white. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03mjFXMBotnKiSJzZdD_X9bR1MH1pfCeL8q3TcYmV-NdQ2aCY8NFF9KlXZCCRX8DHxrLFfZlulndBbJos8oV4Zi_VajNqdWwr46k965bnWIcffwbB5EHjZNvuyqdxIavrhrHRKlxarTc/s2048/Ski.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03mjFXMBotnKiSJzZdD_X9bR1MH1pfCeL8q3TcYmV-NdQ2aCY8NFF9KlXZCCRX8DHxrLFfZlulndBbJos8oV4Zi_VajNqdWwr46k965bnWIcffwbB5EHjZNvuyqdxIavrhrHRKlxarTc/w400-h300/Ski.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>To someone who loves skiing, all those snowflakes are really
distracting. <br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Skiing on weekends is a given in our house. But twice in the
past week or so, I’ve loaded skis into the car on weekday afternoons and
chucked the kids’ boot bags in on top of the skis. One of these outings was
pre-planned and involved springing the youngest from school a little early. (I’ve
called family powder days on occasion in the past, and since we live in a place
where lots of people – including the principals at both schools – are skiers, I
just straight up tell them we’re going skiing. Or I say we’re working on “outdoor
education,” but they know what that means. And we’ve never been scolded.) <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday, every time I glanced up from the keyboard, it was
snowing. I had planned to just take the dog for a ski through the woods between
meetings and other work tasks, but when I went out to run an errand mid-day, I
brushed a couple of inches of fluff off the car, and then it snowed a good bit
more. My two 8<sup>th</sup> graders were at the mountain that afternoon for ski
team practice. A friend sent a photo of a glade filled with fluffy, untracked powder.
My distraction level was high. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, I did what any ski-loving girl with a little scheduling flexibility
would do. I donned my ski bibs, tossed my skis and my daughter’s into the
minivan, and we headed up Three Mile Hill to the Mittersill Double straight
from school pickup. There was hardly anyone on the hill, and we found plenty of
untracked snow, even late in the afternoon. It was a sweet hour and a half on
the slopes. Just the right number of runs to adjust my attitude, the break I
needed to focus back on the work left to do at home. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Winter was late in coming this year, but it was worth the
wait. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's February 11, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record. </i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-63661392240703580692021-01-27T16:52:00.003-05:002021-01-27T16:52:23.686-05:00The Chickadees<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->I have always loved chickadees. In this, of course, I am hardly
alone. These birds, with their endearing black caps, diminutive size, and cheery
calls, appeal to many people. I love them in all seasons. But in winter, when so
many of our spring and summer birds have flitted off for warmer climes, I
appreciate the chickadees’ presence even more. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIsUeFA7O1re6-1JmlVsJNsQzomdv_LezKJJJMxJdJySpQssXPdhx_bP1hNdF2mVy61rZheTDdHuF7rC92GBbENMwwajRejC69Ybz3cWX8iWmrgU9aR9d9zUUMMm_ONpPG-sQpa7w8z4/s1754/Chickadee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1754" data-original-width="1538" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIsUeFA7O1re6-1JmlVsJNsQzomdv_LezKJJJMxJdJySpQssXPdhx_bP1hNdF2mVy61rZheTDdHuF7rC92GBbENMwwajRejC69Ybz3cWX8iWmrgU9aR9d9zUUMMm_ONpPG-sQpa7w8z4/s320/Chickadee.jpg" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For as many winters as we have lived in this house, I have placed
a bird feeder outside the big living room window. It’s hung from an iron
shepherd’s hook post (hard for raiding red squirrels to climb) and placed roughly
equidistant between two sprawling old lilac bushes, which provide ample landing
spots for the chickadees. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Most of the daylight hours, a flock of these birds flits to
and fro, from bush to feeder to tangled rugosa hedge and back, over and over. I’ve
often watch them peck at the bark of the lilacs, or the nearby maple tree, or
the mock orange against the house, where they cache seeds, saving some food for
those days I am slow to refill the feeder – or, I suppose, in case there comes
a time when the resident humans become an unreliable source of food. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Recently, I learned that chickadees develop additional brain
cells during winter, which boost the birds’ memories, so they can recall where
they’ve left those seed caches and retrieve them as needed. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The winter I became a mother, I spent countless hours in a
chair by the big window, watching the chickadees as I nursed and rocked two tiny
babies. I recall learning back then that (unlike winter chickadees) human
mothers actually <i>loose</i> brain cells when they are pregnant. In those
early weeks of motherhood, the size of my brain hardly seemed to matter;
getting to know two new humans, keeping them safe, loving them was all I could
think about anyway. Still, watching the little birds flock around the feeder
was nearly meditative. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The chickadees we see out the window now are likely generations
removed from the birds I watched 14 years ago. They have a hierarchy, I’ve
read, although I can’t tell who’s in charge in of our little flock. When I approach
to refill the stock of seeds, the birds call – to each other, I presume, but I
talk back to them anyway, and stop sometimes to watch the ones perched closest
to me. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">In other places, I’ve fed chickadees right from my mittened
hand. But the wild birds in our yard remain just wary enough to stay out of
reach. Perhaps it’s because they know I also tend to a cat who is far too
curious about their comings and goings. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Boots (the cat), who came to live with us just before the winter
solstice, is fascinated by the birds. We don’t know where he lived before he joined
our menagerie, so I don’t know if his former home had a window to look out and
birds to watch. He spends hours on the windowsill, tail in some stage of
movement, from slightly twitching to frustrated wagging. He meows and paws at
the glass, or crouches as if ready to pounce. It all makes me think Boots will
have to forever be an indoor cat – or wear a collar made of bells if he’s ever allowed
outside. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Although the chickadees are the most loyal to our feeder,
sometimes their flock expands to include a couple of red-breasted nuthatches,
or a pair of blue jays pops in for a bite. A few weeks ago, a couple dozen
Bohemian waxwings alit on the highbush cranberry on the other side of the driveway,
all showy black eye streaks and bright, yellow-tipped tails. And just Monday, a
small group of common redpolls scavenged the fallen seed below the feeder. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the chickadees are the regulars, the reliable birds I
know I’ll hear calling from somewhere nearby any time of year. And in a year
like this one, it’s nice to know there are some things that are steadfastly
similar to how they’ve always been.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's January 28, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record. </i></i> </p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-54623596379120797622021-01-13T15:58:00.000-05:002021-01-13T15:58:55.854-05:00Stolen Runs<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->Sunday afternoon, I snuck in a few ski runs with my teenaged
daughter. She’d spent much of the day competing in a ski race and was tired
from the hours on the hill, the earlier-than-usual race day wake-up call, and
the emotional and mental exertion of competition. Add to that this winter’s
weirdness of booting up and eating lunch in a cold car, and I wouldn’t have
blamed her if she’d opted to go home and curl up someplace warm and cozy with a
good book. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwW75G06vumveWs5mIKn2GBiaqFt0efrc4o6K400rJtLXEhmjQtprc_3d3WYUvA9rbdDQp2zQ2kO4MK-MYVPChToU0FiRf5lM8oDLdM8LbwNSAEgPb30pJcFQkmg7zmjWqZIic61q8HcA/s2048/SunDog.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwW75G06vumveWs5mIKn2GBiaqFt0efrc4o6K400rJtLXEhmjQtprc_3d3WYUvA9rbdDQp2zQ2kO4MK-MYVPChToU0FiRf5lM8oDLdM8LbwNSAEgPb30pJcFQkmg7zmjWqZIic61q8HcA/s320/SunDog.JPG" /></a></div> But I’m glad she chose to ski with her mom instead. <br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The older my children get, the more I find myself cherishing
the stolen moments – an unexpected ski through the woods with my son, a quiet
hour of piecing together a puzzle with my youngest, an afternoon on the
mountain with my oldest girl. There are plenty of times where these growing
children of mine retreat to their rooms as soon as they are home from school,
or skate off to the lift with their friends without a backwards glance, or are
aggravated by my very presence. And I’m (mostly) OK with that. It’s all part of
the process of growing up.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are also many moments of teenage angst, siblings
annoying each other, the stress of making their way through middle school – on
top of the constant curve balls of doing so during a pandemic – and a mother
(me) who doesn’t always have the patience to gracefully dance through it all. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Somehow, Sunday afternoon, I convinced Ella to keep skiing.
Decision made, we clicked into our skis and pushed away from the race day
hubbub toward the lift. We headed to the summit of Cannon, passing through the
mid-mountain snowmaking fog to rise into the cold sunshine of a world above the
clouds. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This late in the day, many skiers had gone home, so we had
our choice of trails, without having to human-slalom our way around other
skiers. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not so long ago, I brought up the rear when skiing with the
kids in case they fell and needed help, or to make sure they turned the right
way at trail intersections. I hoped, in those days of snowplowing and pony
slope runs, that there’d come a time when the skiing pace was a little bit
faster. Now, I play caboose because I don’t have a prayer of keeping up. I love
watching my kids race ahead of me, all fearless speed and nimble turns.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But Sunday afternoon wasn’t about keeping up so much as just
hanging out. We chatted on the chairlift – about what, I couldn’t tell you. I
don’t recall the specifics of our conversation, but I am holding tight to the
feeling of just being with my daughter. No stress, no angst, no more race day
nerves. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just a mom and her girl, sunshine and snow, and a few stolen
ski runs. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's January 14, 2021 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record. </i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-2913109697815173462020-12-23T19:20:00.000-05:002020-12-23T19:20:52.474-05:00Holiday Traditions<p class="MsoNormal">Earlier this week I spent a couple of hours playing elf at
the local elementary school’s annual Recycle Sale. Each year, every child in
the school gets to peruse a hodgepodge of new and used items and select holiday
gifts for immediate family members, all for the price of a quarter per present.
The kids look forward to the sale each year, and for the past nine years, I’ve
been lucky enough to be there on Recycle Sale day to help wrap the treasures
they find.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIW7h_FPxl0RhH7sKCBh8UC4uN9PEXVxuAVKZF_3oZ9K0Pj3eaHoyEByQ1WctyxzIjO-CEYSDaHT5nJ3drs_5tUNxKbiKp-Uqtgwl0kVMpgfe59_LoJGhpOx7h3uGW9ioPtyHt9c4TaSA/s1440/Christmas+Cookies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1439" data-original-width="1440" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIW7h_FPxl0RhH7sKCBh8UC4uN9PEXVxuAVKZF_3oZ9K0Pj3eaHoyEByQ1WctyxzIjO-CEYSDaHT5nJ3drs_5tUNxKbiKp-Uqtgwl0kVMpgfe59_LoJGhpOx7h3uGW9ioPtyHt9c4TaSA/w314-h314/Christmas+Cookies.JPG" width="314" /></a></div>This has been a favorite holiday tradition for my children.
We sort of figured it wouldn’t happen this year, given the pandemic and all.
But the staff and volunteers figured out a way to make the sale work. I’m
particularly glad, since this is my family’s last Recycle Sale; next year I will
no longer have elementary school-aged kids. <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of course, we’ll have to shift or do without lots of
traditions this year. There was, for instance, no holiday school concert this
December. But I’ll long remember my children’s first, when my now-8<sup>th</sup>
graders were in kindergarten and happily hopped around on stage doing the
Penguin Polka. (I can still sing that song, so often did they practice it at
home!) <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">We won’t have our annual sit-down dinner and present-opening
extravaganza at my parents’ house on Christmas Eve. Instead, we’ll settle for
an abbreviated visit, all of us spread out across the long room, rather than
gathered together at the dining room table. I feel lucky to be able to do that,
different as it may seem, given that many people won’t see their loved ones at
all this Christmas. Likewise, what has become a tradition of Christmas morning brunch
and more presents at my in-laws’ will likely be considerably more subdued this
year.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Since my kids were babies, we’ve always hosted Christmas
dinner for extended family on both sides, cramming borrowed chairs around two
tables pushed together. There’s not a lot of elbow room at those tables once
everyone sits down, but the house is filled with good food, conversation, discarded
wrapping paper, and plenty of love. It will seem strange to have Christmas
dinner with just the five of us, at our regular table, without the noise and
bustle of nearly a dozen extra people. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">But there are some things that <i>will</i> be the same. We’ll
still make a mess of the kitchen while baking and decorating Christmas cookies.
The kids and I will still sit together on the couch before bedtime on Christmas
Eve to read <i>’Twas the Night Before Christmas</i>. They no longer fit in my
lap or believe in flying reindeer that land on the roof with “The prancing and
pawing of each little hoof,” but reading Clement Clarke Moore’s poem set to Jan
Brett’s whimsical illustrations remains a night before Christmas must. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Christmas morning, the kids will still be up earlier than
the grownups would like. And I’ll still make them sit on the top step for a
photo before they come down to check out their presents. They know, now, who <i>really
</i>brings those presents, so there’s less magic in that moment, perhaps, than
there once was – but just as much joyful anticipation. While so much looks
different this year – and this Christmas – I’m thankful and grateful for all
that remains the same. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's December 24, 2020 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record. </i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576654517537682315.post-31376556519005636122020-12-09T17:25:00.001-05:002020-12-09T17:25:15.393-05:00Snow Fix<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal">A few inches of snow. That’s what it took to adjust my
attitude toward winter this year. For as long as I can remember, I have loved
this season of white – it’s filled with Christmas magic and snowy woods and <i>skiing</i>.
But this December, I just wasn’t feeling it. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIG60NWGl3SSWdukAeR3zxMc7YZMCKD-E3QjaMnR1yNlWNvPZfMeK3U3pXG4mCW3Jfk8kIhAyhjPYLvSxSwAE3pxz8OEBeQbMSbd0OGjs29TwZa7e948s-RXd-x-Uw2NHiNKs6sif36s/s4032/Snow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIG60NWGl3SSWdukAeR3zxMc7YZMCKD-E3QjaMnR1yNlWNvPZfMeK3U3pXG4mCW3Jfk8kIhAyhjPYLvSxSwAE3pxz8OEBeQbMSbd0OGjs29TwZa7e948s-RXd-x-Uw2NHiNKs6sif36s/s320/Snow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This year, I held tighter than ever to summer, lamenting its
passing in a way I never had. Summer had provided a bit of a respite from the
pandemic, as we spent the long days mostly outside and often with friends –
hiking and splashing in the river or just sitting together. Here in the more
northern realm of New England, it felt as if we were in a germ-free bubble of
safety. Autumn arrived with colors as brilliant as ever, but also with the kids
returning to school, less opportunity to gather (safely, outdoors) with friends,
shorter days and continued uncertainty. <br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">While visions of powder days and wintery wonderlands
normally fill my head once the leaves drop from the trees, this winter took
shape in my mind as an endless stretch of cold, dark days. Even the thought of
skiing didn’t excite me. I couldn’t – and still can’t – picture a ski season
without the banter of the coaches’ room in Ernie’s Haus, the young kids I coach
sharing candy at snack time, my own kids goofing around with their friends and
sitting shoulder-to-shoulder at lunchtime. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rather than bemoaning the lack of snow, as I would normally
do, I reveled in the warm weather that lingered into this strange December, in
long walks through the woods, and in the extra time of unexpected free weekends
due to a delayed start to the season. It didn’t feel like December or ski
season or Christmastime. It felt like endless November, and despite my normal
disdain for that month, this year I didn’t mind. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">But Saturday afternoon, the steady drizzle turned to snow,
and Sunday morning, we woke up to a landscape transformed to white. The tree
limbs, long bare of leaves, were sheathed in snow. The mountains were covered.
The plows once again prowled the back roads near home. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My son pulled the old toboggan out of the depths of the
garage and we trudged through the snow to my folks’ house to visit (outside)
and help with the shoveling. After lunch, we rallied some friends and a cousin,
and the kids spent a couple of hours tramping up, then sliding down the long
hill of my in-laws’ yard. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">It was an afternoon of laughter and rosy cheeks and
snowballs lobbed at passing sledders. It felt almost normal. It felt good. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Back home, the lights of the recently-trimmed Christmas tree
twinkled against the early dusk outside. Our familiar hodgepodge of holiday
decorations occupied their regular December spots along windowsills and across the
mantle. The skis, hauled out of their summer storage place just the day before,
were waxed and ready – for whatever this season will look like. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">It still doesn’t feel like all is right in our little piece
of the world, and maybe it won’t for some time. Our anticipation of the season
is tinged, in this year of 2020, with anxiety. But a little bit of snow went a
long way to remind me that I really do love this season – and had me embracing
winter again, at last.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><i>Original content published by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul. This essay
appears as Meghan's December 10, 2020 Close to Home column in the Littleton
Record. </i></i> <br /></p>
Meghan McCarthy McPhaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12713379708296254262noreply@blogger.com0