a list for friday: things I would like a personal assistant to do

Make my first cup of coffee in the morning and bring it to me in bed.

Then yell at me until I get up.

Delete all the songs I no longer like from my iPod.

Follow me around with scissors and a calculator.

Take the dog out 300 times a day so he can stand there and sniff the air and decide if he wants to pee.

Wait in lines at the grocery store while I look at magazines.

Hang pictures.

Find my silver dangly earrings.

Scrape dishes after Matt microwaves eggs.

Poke me when I slouch.

Pre-heat the car in the winter.

Memorize all my computer passwords.

Figure out why there is always grape jelly on our remote when no one is ever …

a prescription for peace

I call it “speaking step”—learning to communicate with your stepkids and understanding their attempts to connect back. It’s a unique dynamic in which you are one part parent/authority figure, one part aunt, one part (mostly) silent observer.

Like parenting of any stripe, one of the hallmarks is never knowing what conversation is coming next. On Sunday night, after a youth group gathering talking about the fruits of the Spirit in which the kids were challenged to consider which ones they needed to cultivate in their own lives, Miles said, “Jen, I need peace most of all. How do I get it?”

Um.

Earlier than he should have to, Miles is reluctantly …