Author Archives: Annie Maffeo
All the Subtlety We Cannot See (on a Zoom Call)
“The most interesting thing I have learned about myself during the global pandemic is that perhaps I overvalued that silence. I miss people. I miss the human interaction that the office brought every day. I now cherish the tiny facial tick or smile that you could only discern when you saw someone in person—something that […]
The Power of a Good Swear Word
“Ben is not even three and his brain will soon reset much of the information he has already learned. But impressions are being made. Confidence and life experiences are being formed. His personality is developing before my eyes and every time I place a truly nasty word in his vocabulary, I run the risk of […]
Misplaced Anger at a Cleaning Product & Other Such Postpartum Tales
“There is a roll of Bounty paper towels that sits in my mud room closet. It is a smaller roll of paper towels than any sensible person with a small child should own. It is individually wrapped which, again, symbolizes a departure from how I normally purchase practical household products. I buy bulk. Individually wrapped […]
Sunshine Through the Rain
“The storm once again came into our home when we discovered our adorable little peanut had colic. With that, the normal chaos of newbornhood flew out the window. Ben spent his time living in a diaper and linen swaddle. Between spit up and poops, we spent more time taking his onesies off than anything else. […]
The Absence of Him
“But what I find most surprising is how much I miss him being with me every day. When I was pregnant, I knew he was safe, or at least as safe as I could make him. I knew what he was doing. I knew he was protected and I knew when he had the hiccups. […]
The G-Word
“I know I am not alone in this. I also understand that older, wiser people will say “revel in the time that you have with your children when they are little and the sweet quiet moments you have with your husband”. But that is something said with hindsight behind them. I currently have all […]