Standing In The Shadows

Poised

by Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser | Sep 8, 2014 | Standing In The Shadows

A friend posed one of those perennial parent queries the other day: Do I let my boy be a princess for Halloween? The question of how you feel about your child’s self-expression and explorations and passions is seemingly a lifelong one. Remember how mesmerized...

Facebook Mea Culpa

by Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser | Sep 24, 2014 | Standing In The Shadows

Admittedly, I’m a gratitude junkie. I “get it” that for me, the more gratitude I find the more there seems to be available to be found. Sure, to declare gratitude (current Facebook meme) is an exercise. Gratitude declarations—to yourself or...

Sentences Adults Utter

by Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser | Oct 2, 2014 | Standing In The Shadows

I cleaned the linen closet. That’s a sentence I hadn’t envisioned myself uttering. It’s so… adult. It’s so not the adult sentence I’d exactly aspired to, but of course, if you have a house with many beds and people, you wind up...

Sweeten the World

by Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser | Nov 1, 2014 | Standing In The Shadows

This is the true order of how things happened: I’d been meaning and wanting to make a batch, even a small one, of peach jam. It was a missing link in my jamming season. But then… you know, I just couldn’t quite put together peaches, lemon or lime,...

From Near to Far

by Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser | Nov 21, 2014 | Standing In The Shadows

October didn’t rush by. I haven’t been here on this blog, either. It’s been less writer-focused, more a time to attend to the rush of things that call for me to show up. Like the carpool—I have shown up for carpool. People who know me in the...

In Threes

by Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser | Nov 27, 2014 | Standing In The Shadows

I had for a long while a habit of three things to tell you about along with a statement of three good things, because gratitude is a skill and when cultivated, I believe works to our advantage. Plus, there’s really so much that’s good, even sometimes when...

Thankful For…

by Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser | Dec 22, 2014 | Standing In The Shadows

Tree branches’ twists Warmth earned ascending hills on foot Feet Fierce sunsets Family silky and sticky as spider webs Bedrock friends First grader with nose in books Sixth grader’s photographs Yoyo tricks Teenager’s “Meh”...