jenarbo.ca – doer of things

Today Kale turns 13. The age of teenagerdom has begun. Amidst a pandemic, a heat wave, and a climate crisis, there are still things to celebrate. And so, to mark this day, I write a letter to my son on the anniversary of his birth.
(Past letters: Twelve, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, and One. I don’t know why I didn’t write one for 9 and 10.)...

I have been writing here since my child was only a few weeks old and this blog actually weighs on my mind. I don’t know what to do with it; I wrote too much and shared too much and maybe that’s a good thing and maybe it’s awful and I vacillate between...

This past weekend Kale had to get a COVID test. In my gut I felt very strongly that he was fine, that it was a standard-issue cold like they always get when school goes back in, but because I had answered yes to at least two symptoms on the list we are...

The pandemic marches on and it waits for no one.
In my mind I see a stormcloud, angry and grey, just looming over us but the rain has stopped. Maybe the clouds will disperse, or maybe the hail will start. WHO KNOWS.
So far, my family is still healthy and well. In fact, I don’t recall us being this healthy for this long in a long time, which tells me that, wow, we were really bad at washing our hands before March. My joints and back are sore a lot these days, and...