The Empty Piggy Banks

Making allowances for no allowance.

The members of my household and I have been engaging in the same conversation, a few times a year, for quite a few years now. The conversation seldom varies and usually begins when a child – who has his/her eye on something special – requests an allowance. Child: “Hey, why don’t we get an allowance every week? Lots of other kids get money from their parents.” Parent: “Because you don’t actually do any chores. I will consider giving you a weekly allowance when you consider working to earn it.”  Child:  “I do stuff. I clear my plate after dinner and put away clean clothes. I do other things too, sometimes, I just can’t think of the other things that I sometimes do.” Parent: “Yes, well those paltry contributions do not warrant an allowance. …

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Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: Belmont's Need for Leadership

"Where is the leadership in this town? It is not the job of a Library Trustee alone, or the responsibility or the school committee members, to do this work."

To the editor: I am amazed and disappointed at the situation this town found itself in at the School Committee meeting last night. The members of the School Committee were in an impossible situation and had no good way out. The Library Trustees found themselves literally cutting and pasting possible alternative ideas for locations for a ball field to save the future of the new library. Where is the leadership in this town? It is not the job of a Library Trustee alone, or the responsibility or the school committee members, to do this work. The Selectmen should have stepped up with professionals to find a way to make it work. I have to believe that there is a way to both support the sports programs and move our library to a more appropriate …

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A Tale of Two Playgrounds

Too soon to cry foul.

Upon hearing last week that Belmont's annual Town Meeting approved $100,000 of Community Preservation Act funds to be directed toward the Winn Brook’s playground – also known as “Joey’s Park” – some within the Butler Elementary School community were left feeling bewildered. But let me back up a bit. In November 2011, safety concerns led to inspections of both the Butler and Winn Brook playgrounds. The inspectors determined that both playgrounds were no longer “up to code.”  However, while Joey’s Park was worked on by the Belmont Department of Public Works and reopened, Butler’s playground was immediately taped off and, soon thereafter, completely demolished. Butler’s Parent Teacher Association had been in the process of earnestly trying to…

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Slices of Life

The Spiders are Back

And I’m a little freaked out.

Prefatory note: For reasons that will become clear below, I have asked my editor to make sure that the photograph accompanying this article contains no images of spiders. I’d like to be able to read this column! Every year around this time, smallish grey spiders take up residence in the nooks and crannies of our house.  And every year when this happens, my anxiety rapidly rises in direct proportion to the number of spider sightings. I suffer from arachnophobia. Forgive me if I have misspelled the word, I am afraid to look it up for fear I will find a photo of a spider, near to the word. I am certain my fear of spiders dates back to an early memory I have of watching the movie The Incredible Shrinking Man with my father on television. I …

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Slices of Life

Sleepover Politics

On the political beliefs of sleep-deprived ten-year-olds.

Happy April Vacation! I hope your week is going well.  In our house, we started off the spring recess by hosting a sleepover.  My ten-year-old daughter invited two of her best Butler buddies to our home for a night that consisted more of squealing than sleeping. The evening’s activities varied from nail painting to Taylor Swift karaoke to snacking (about every 9 minutes) to videoing each other singing and back to nail painting, where the old color was removed and a new (and presumably better) color was applied. It was during the pancake breakfast the next morning that the girls left behind their innocuous Taylor Swift chatter and entered into the realm of a serious political discussion. Their conversation went something like this: Girl 1…

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Slices of Life

Reflections on My Two Years as a Patch Columnist

Things learned, columns remembered, what the future holds.

Two years ago this week, I timorously submitted my very first “Slice of Life” column for publication – or whatever it is called when it’s online – in Belmont Patch. Since I have not skipped one Tuesday since I began in April of 2011, I am guessing I have written a bit more than 100 columns. In that first column, I laid out for readers what they would find in the “Slice of Life” space. “What will you encounter here?  Well, slice of life essays. You know, musings on motherhood, life in Belmont, the struggle to locate last season’s soccer cleats (in time for the first practice!), all that.” Allow me to pause this week and answer some questions that I am frequently asked about my experience as a Patch columnist. Q: What have you learned in the…

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Slices of Life

Removing Fear from the School Security Debate

How should a safety system proceed when the facts show that Newtown isn't coming to your school?

On Wednesday morning last week, I caught sight of my seventh grader’s lunch bag on the floor of the car. It must have slipped out of her backpack during the harried morning drop-off. Time was a bit tight, but I figured I’d better get it over to the Chenery Middle School so she’d have it in time for the lunch period. I pulled up on Washington Street and dashed to the front door knowing I’d be in and out in under a minute.  As I approached the door, I encountered a sign informing me that this entrance was no longer in use for visitors; I was instructed to go to the backdoor. "Sigh." I jumped into my car and headed to the back of the school, where I now faced several parking challenges. “On street” parking was pretty full up, and the staff …

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Slices of Life

Calling Dr. Google

On second thought, best to call the real doctor.

It had been a month or more since I had last seen my friend, Clara, so I was happy to meet her for tea at Starbucks recently. After we exchanged pleasantries, she confessed she had just passed through a harrowing week.  It seems Clara had experienced searing abdominal pain that had kept her awake for several nights in a row. She had found herself with no appetite and absolutely no energy. “And then,” she added, “on the third night of writhing in pain, I made the mistake of googling my symptoms.  A few clicks on the computer and it became abundantly clear what I had: either ovarian or pancreatic cancer. Four-to-six months was all I had left. I was a wreck.” "Did you, um, see your doctor?" I inquired. “Oh, yes. I’m fine. The doctor said it …

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Slices of Life

Thinking Out of the Box

Amy Roberts gets things moving for seniors and professionals.

Amy Roberts is an enviable woman. She is beautiful on the inside and out, has two adorable kids, is married to a great guy, and lives in a lovely home. While all that is desirable, these are not the reasons I envy Amy. What impresses me most about Amy is that she has a job that absolutely makes her heart sing. Having left a career I relished to raise my brood almost 15 years ago, I pay attention when women talk about the professional lives they successfully forged while nevertheless electing to have children. Amy is one of those lucky women who chose to stay in the field she loved – and now runs her own business.  Her business, Out of the Box Moves, is both flexible and challenging, while also being amazingly rewarding and fulfilling.  Let…

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Slices of Life

Recoiling from the Grim Reaper

The third – and last – installment of my “downer" series.

My father-in-law Frank checks in with his kids and their families, via telephone, almost every Sunday evening. When he called this past Sunday, one of the first things he said upon my answering the phone was:  “I’m fine and everyone is still alive.” This may seem like an odd opening statement, but Frank’s last surviving sister and her husband of 62 years are both ill, very ill.  As a result, we are braced to receive sad news, specifically about sweet Uncle Vinnie, sooner rather than later. Their passing, whenever that should come, will not constitute a tragedy. They will have lived full and long lives and will not have suddenly “gone gently into that good night.” Nevertheless, their absence will leave a huge hole in the hearts of all those…

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