Lara Krupicka
The Reluctant Naturalist
One question for you as we approach the new year: what is it time for? Instead of setting yourself a list of self-improvement goals that are bound to produce more guilt than change (if the statistics are right), take an optimistic approach. Think about the different goals or outings or classes you’ve had in mind…
Drop a gold coin in a Salvation Army bucket. Tie a bow around a brand new car to give someone you love. Leave a $100 tip for a restaurant server. Wrap an envelope of airline tickets. Those make great bucket list ideas, don’t they? I’d love the opportunity to do each one of those someday….
Midmorning on November 17th, 12 tornadoes tore through the Midwest, ripping homes off of foundations, tossing cars into fields, and causing chaos for hundreds of families. Our city suffered only heavy winds and rain. But the local television stations ran continuous footage of devastation not far away. When our church put out a call for…
I hate haunted houses. Actually, I’m adverse to anything scary. No horror pics, Stephen King novels, or Fright Fests for me. For one reason: I scare easily. When my daughters agreed to play the role of zombies at the big All Hallow’s Eve event at our city’s living history museum, I was asked to help…
I’m waiting at a stoplight when I see one again: that oval sticker on the back of a minivan that says “26.2” (or sometimes “13.1″). Are you tired of those yet? Because I am. And not because I think those who have completed a marathon don’t deserve to boast. They do. Completing a 26.2 mile…
Sometimes as parents, and especially as moms, we deny ourselves the fulfillment of our longings. We mistake being a good parent with making life all about our kids, as if every one of our hopes has (or will) come true in them. Or we believe we don’t have or don’t deserve the space, time, energy,…
It’s school time again. I find that among the moms I talk to there are two sharply contrasting reactions to the start of the school year: glee and sadness. And frankly I think many moms, whether they’re anticipating sending the kids off to school or dreading it, feel a mixture of both. If you’re sad…
You are an adventurer. You know that, right? If you are a parent, then you signed up for a life of thrills and chills, unexpected turns of events, situations that test your wit and courage, and unparalleled moments of joy. Don’t miss the adventure of life with kids. Because every day is an opportunity to…
1. Why not? You know you have a list rattling around in your brain of things you want to do before your children fly the nest. Why not write it down? You’re more likely to remember the ideas you have if you keep them securely noted somewhere. And you free up your mind from thinking…
“All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”…
