The Pen and The Page

Recent Blog Posts

We Call Her Big Mama

Tricia Lott Williford May 20, 2023 2 Comments

We call her Big Mama, and sometimes Mama Cass. She is the giant red umbrella that shades our patio during [...]

This Mom, Other Moms, Shining Stars and State Testing

Tricia Lott Williford March 26, 2023 2 Comments

“Mom, can you opt us out of the state testing?” “Why?” “Because some other moms are doing that.” “Maybe they [...]

Slaps.

Tricia Lott Williford December 7, 2022 No Comments

Our family schedule now allows for exactly two dinners together each week. Two nights a week, I pull out all [...]

Baby Ben, a Digital Robot, & My First Go at Grandparenting

Tricia Lott Williford November 18, 2022 No Comments

My memory-keeper apps brought up this story from a year ago, when we got to know Baby Ben the digital [...]

Too Soon for Neuter Jokes, Mom.

Tricia Lott Williford November 9, 2022 1 Comment

The puppies were spayed and neutered yesterday. Molly’s was laparoscopic, two small incisions, so she seems to be doing well. [...]

Widows and Chick-fil-A Sauce

Tricia Lott Williford August 15, 2022 2 Comments

There’s a widow in our community whom I have long known from afar. I wrote an open letter to her [...]

Freedom, Tight Shoes, and Green Beans from the Freezer

Tricia Lott Williford August 12, 2022 6 Comments

On my birthday, I exhaled into a new word: Freedom. For nearly three weeks of my new age of 43, [...]

Baby Ben, a Digital Robot, & My First Go at Grandparenting

Tricia Lott Williford November 18, 2021 4 Comments

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this recently, but Tuck is in tenth grade. He has far surpassed my height, [...]

Gentlemen’s Academy

Tricia Lott Williford September 19, 2021 8 Comments

Somehow, I have become the mom sitting by the mirrors outside the men’s dressing room, while the sons try on [...]

The Things We Might Say

Tricia Lott Williford September 14, 2021 4 Comments

If she tells you she wishes her car got better gas mileage, that doesn’t mean she wishes she’d never learned [...]

Forty-Two

Tricia Lott Williford July 25, 2021 4 Comments

I have turned forty-two. And so far, my senses are on hyperbolic overload with all that forty-two has already shown [...]

The Naked Movie

Tricia Lott Williford June 22, 2021 1 Comment

I am writing in the library today. A mom and her little girl – probably four years old – walked [...]

Sears Portraits and Mother’s Day, circa 1997

Tricia Lott Williford May 9, 2021 No Comments

“All I want for Mother’s Day is a picture of my kids,” she told us. Well, that’s simple enough. Plus, [...]

Easter Baskets. I Can Talk About It Now.

Tricia Lott Williford April 9, 2021 4 Comments

I made a fatal error this week. Its name is Easter Baskets. For a while I couldn’t talk about it, [...]

Today, I Said Thank You.

Tricia Lott Williford September 19, 2020 19 Comments

Today, I said thank you to the Starbucks barista who made my Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, even though she is [...]

Locked in a Bedroom: A Good Friday Gone Wrong

Tricia Lott Williford April 8, 2020 2 Comments

It’s been more than a decade since this Good Friday situation, the day Baby Tyler locked Toddler Tucker and me [...]

Jesus Didn’t Parent Toddlers: A Love Letter to the Parents of Littles

Tricia Lott Williford April 2, 2020 1 Comment

Parents of Preschoolers and Toddlers, this season is the real deal, isn’t it? You are in the t-r-e-n-c-h-e-s. When my [...]

The Very Definition

Tricia Lott Williford March 30, 2020 1 Comment

Looking through some old journals tonight, I found this dialogue from four-year-old Tucker: “Mommy, let’s make a train. Tyler [...]

The Collective Reflective

Tricia Lott Williford March 25, 2020 1 Comment

Have you noticed? We have become people who are counting. We are counting things. We are counting days. We are [...]

Sparkly, Shiny Promises

Tricia Lott Williford March 24, 2020 5 Comments

A few years ago, I kept things lively with a special treat for the boys each day of spring break. [...]

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