My oldest child is our learner child – we hope we’re making our biggest mistakes with her, the firstborn of our two daughters, and that we’ll get more right with her younger sister.

I hadn’t really thought about talking to my teenager about mental illness until the one day it became unavoidable.

This won’t last forever, I remind myself, these moments when life pushes along and I sometimes chase after it.

“I realized in trying to teach you HOW to be I've forgotten who you are, so I was wondering, do you remember who you are?”

Sometimes I am so strong. I run towards hard stuff. I bite of big chunks. I have gotten through things that seemed impossible.

If you need a refresher on what changes your kid is or will be going through, start here.

When you’re ready and wondering, come look for a slice of yourself in me. There’s plenty to share.

I can’t run his race with him. But I understand. For all of our differences, we do have this. This, we will always share.

The allure of mommy solitude is not enough for me to ignore the sound. I reach for the iPhone.