Sarah Rise Weekly Updates

For the past many Christmases we have traveled to warmer climes before heading to Philly to see my two sets of parents. This year we stayed put. Christmas Eve was filled with house tidying and baking gingerbread cookies. Then we attended an evening church service at a church we can walk to. We don’t usually… Read more »

As Sarah and I drove to her annual audiology appointment she informed me that she was a safari driver pointing out the red Xs that we were passing. As she continued to talk it took me a moment to realize the new name she was using to refer to herself: That’s Right. Once I realized… Read more »

As we decorated our tree last Sunday, Amy commented on how we have many ornaments with pictures of young Sarah over the years, but no ornaments with pictures of her. This is because the Sarah ornaments were from her schools, and Amy has gone to different schools. To remedy this inequality, Amy drew two pictures… Read more »

It has been a while since I wrote anything about Amy’s new Whisper brace. It hasn’t been quite the smooth sailing experience we had hoped for. You may remember that the doctor wrote us the prescription while also advising that he didn’t think it would be effective. We have now gone to Philadelphia three times… Read more »

The most important dish for me at Thanksgiving is the mashed turnips. It was something my grandmother made that I never even particularly liked, but it was unique to any other Thanksgiving meal and I came to love that slightly bitter taste. I even now know it is best to have smaller turnips instead of… Read more »

Last weekend we had a lovely visit with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop. We had a fun time playing Kittens in the Blender, which is really a highly competitive match between Amy and Carl no matter how many other people are playing. We also watched the movie of Harold And the Purple Crayon, laughing uproariously. We never… Read more »

Virtually everything I did this past week was virtual. Well, that’s not quite true, but I did have many more zooms than usual. One was about connecting more with my community and how I might want to make that happen. My first goal is to get to know everyone who lives on my block. One… Read more »

Today we will begin with a story from long ago, back when Carl and I were a new couple. I was an English major and was reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne for one of my classes. Carl read a short summary that came with talking points. He sat down with me one day… Read more »

The weather this autumn has been unseasonably warm, which made it possible to carve pumpkins outside. Usually for Halloween itself people worry about how many layers they need to put under or over their costume, but this year the concern was about being too warm! It was 80 degrees. I was so sure that we… Read more »

Last Sunday was a gorgeous autumn day – the perfect day for Sarah to ride her bike on a forest trail for the first time ever. Carl, Amy, and Sarah rode their bikes while I walked. Maybe next time I will ride too because Sarah is independent enough, and if she does need help then… Read more »