Category Archives: advice

And just like that….

Posted on June 17, 2022 by rglw

I had carefully scheduled my meetings around this morning’s fifth grade promotion ceremony. Our youngest daughter’s second to last day in our neighborhood school. As planned, I logged off my morning meetings promptly at 10 a.m. to dash over to … Continue reading →

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The key to a successful and happy marriage? Lowered expectations.

Posted on July 3, 2019 by rglw

I never expected any of this. When we were least expecting it, we found each other. Out of the universe of people, somehow we were the only ones on that rooftop in Soho eighteen years ago. The whole city receded … Continue reading →

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The difference six years makes….

Posted on May 8, 2019 by rglw

Six years ago today, I defended my dissertation. I faced a room of inquisitors, answered questions and opined on future research before I was asked to leave the room. While my committee deliberated, I stood in the library hallway with … Continue reading →

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October 2018, check. (Double check)

Posted on November 9, 2018 by rglw

October was an entire year rolled up into one month. When I look back on 2018, October may be my best month, yet. Too many things and so many more things happened. The list: Exercise (make room for one non-WIP … Continue reading →

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September 2018, check.

Posted on October 5, 2018 by rglw

My mind has taken years to unwind from an academic calendar. It’s Q4. Not the start of school or a few weeks into the semester. We’re in the final 92 days of 2018 and I am ready to take on … Continue reading →

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June 2018, check.

Posted on July 13, 2018 by rglw

June is always the end of something. No matter how much we try to make it about summer kickoff and the start of something fun, it always feel melancholy to me. Melancholy and sunny. We saw the end of lots … Continue reading →

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She would have been 70….

Posted on April 11, 2017 by rglw

Back in February I bought my daughters each a pink hyacinth plant. When my mother was alive, she did the same for me all through my twenties. She was obsessed with spring flowers because their arrival on the scene coincided … Continue reading →

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The 2017 Plan

Posted on January 18, 2017 by rglw

I spent almost all of 2016 unwinding my mind from the academic calendar. I have always loved making resolutions, but for most of my life, I have looked at the new year as a pit stop from the start of the … Continue reading →

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Beyond the Professoriate

Posted on May 7, 2016 by rglw

May 7, 2016 is the three-year anniversary of my dissertation defense. Three. Years. Three years ago, my little daughter was 2, my oldest was 5. We were seriously muddling through day-to-day. Graduation day looked like this: I’d like to think … Continue reading →

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what I know after 9 years of marriage

Posted on July 7, 2015 by rglw

I had no idea that marriage would be like this. As a kid, I never dreamed up a wedding or fantasized about my future husband. As an adolescent, the idea of marriage could not have felt further off. I didn’t … Continue reading →

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