Reprint Collection: DAY IN, DAY OUT

Raising children is complicated and frustrating and intellectually stimulating and physically exhausting and scary and infuriating and overwhelming and so many other things. Sometimes you can forget it's also just plain funny. In fact, there have been many times when the only thing that kept me from bursting into tears with my children was that I was too busy laughing.

So I thought I'd gather together a bunch of stories that are mostly -- though not always -- funny. Many of them were written quite a few years ago, when my children were very small. Many of the best stories came out of some of the worst days. (The hardest ones anyway.) But looking back on those days now is a lot like looking back on childbirth. You no longer remember the pain -- though you know you felt it. What stays with you is the memory of that glorious moment when you child burst into the world.

Same with suffering through our infestation of head lice, or the loss of my son's beloved bear, or a field trip to the science museum with a child who kept throwing up and another one who got lost. I know at the time it was not much fun. But now, looking back, the amazing thing is, I almost miss those days.

No. Scratch that. But remembering them does make me smile.

Read a sample story from Day In, Day Out: Ice Dancing

Other stories in Day In, Day Out:

Tent Buying
Bear Bear
Toy Keeping
Head to Head with the Lice
Five Mile Race
At the Dump
Ski Day
Lost Boy
Whittling Down
Gerbil Death
Skirts
Borrowing a Mother
Giant Mess
Ordinary Life
Ice Dancing

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