The prospect of the empty nest, while raising children, was for me as foreign and distant as the Siberian tundra. Imagining myself without children to care for as my primary occupation seemed at once impossible and slightly seductive -- the idea of my kids off and on their own, while...

We all have soundtracks of our lives. During my teen years there were hours spent listening to the same record album over and over, sometimes even the same song, convinced that the artist had written the lyrics especially for me. "OHMYGOSH" my friends and I would shriek. That's EXACTLY how...

I was a stay-at-home mom for 20 years. My husband worked to support our family.

We chose for me to be -- for lack of a better word -- a homemaker. I did all of the things needed to run a household, from buying socks to paying bills. I cooked...

People come and go in our lives, but there are those archetypal individuals who we've all met over the years. Here are 15 that most everyone has likely known.

1. The Childhood Friend You Idolized: She had more Barbies, a cute, turned up nose and couldn't care less about spending time...

Yesterday I posted this photo on my Facebook page:

It was seen and shared over 2,000 times. Apparently it struck a nerve.

I take no credit for the sentiment -- that would go to Dr. Bill Cosby, comedian and philosopher extraordinaire. I...

It's that time of the year again when we boil eggs, cook for days and gather with family and friends to celebrate a very important holiday.

And no, I don't mean Easter -- I mean Passover.

For those of you who don't celebrate Passover, it is, in a nutshell, an...

My son is home for spring break. He arrived with a duffle bag full of dirty laundry, a big smile, and a bear hug for me.

Hanging out with him, I sometimes feel like we don't have much to talk about. We cover most topics pretty well -- school, his...

Sometimes, every once in a while, I wish I had a baby.

Truthfully, babyhood wasn't my favorite time of parenthood. I was often tired, messy, confused and anxious. Babies take an enormous amount of physical work -- the lifting, carrying, changing, bathing, feeding, rocking, cleaning, comforting... you know what I...

In an article entitled "The Case for Not Saving for College" in the Money section of The Huffington Post (and on HuffPost Live on February 19), the author states that, rather than saving for college, he and his wife have opted to take their children on...

There's a lot about Lena Dunham's award-winning show Girls that can make your skin crawl, if you are uncomfortable with:

1. Nudity


2. Obscenity


3. Sex


4. Honesty

As an actress, Dunham is unabashedly free with herself -- and as a writer...

Like so much of the nation, we are caught in "Downton Abbey's" thrall. Sunday evenings have been transformed from the dreaded night when preparation for the following week begins to Downton Night, a blissful evening of mindless, Edwardian fun. But is it mindless? Layered into Julian Fellowes' crackling dialogue are...

I've spent nearly 23 years being a parent, and if there's anything I know for sure, it's this: children learn what they live. You can talk until you're blue in the face, but if you don't act as you speak, your kids won't take to heart the things that you...

Last month, I went to my gynecologist for my annual check-up. After she probed and thumped all of my lady parts (things looked good, thankfully), we began chatting, as we always do; I've been going to her for 20 years and we've become friends.

"Can you do me a favor?"...

Adjusting to the empty nest is difficult, there's no doubt about it. When my youngest left for college in the fall of 2010, I felt as though my life's work -- being a full-time mother -- was over, and I wondered -- a lot -- about what I was supposed...

The story of Manti Te'o and how he was duped -- or we were -- has captured the attention of this country. Eventually we'll all hear what really happened, whether he perpetrated a hoax to make himself seem more sympathetic...

The Question(s)... Does Jell-O have a place at your dinner party? Is Jell-O mold hip?

Friends whom we had lost touch with for years invited us to an intimate dinner party in their beautiful new home last summer. We had drinks outdoors. The landscaping was magnificent, the pool light caused a...

It's awards season, when the best movies and brightest stars are honored and feted. All the fashion, the gorgeous men and beautiful women, the cringe-worthy acceptance speeches... so much glamour -- and so many great movies. Who doesn't love the movies?

There are some movies that you forget five minutes...

What a year this has been, filled with drama and noise
Much ado about lots -- those Republican boys.
Remember them -- Santorum, Cain, Perry, the rest?
Romney, finally their choice -- still, Obama did best.

We watched the conventions, amazed...

Being a mother never ends. We all know that. Here I am with two grown kids, and still, I worry -- not like I did when they were growing up, but my worries are there, all the time, in my train of thought. Is there a moment as a mother...

I saw something on Twitter that caught my attention:

"An American tradition is something that happened to a baby-boomer twice."

It was posted by someone much younger than I am and it made me wonder -- is it true? Upon further Internet sleuthing, I discovered that this quote...