Every time I go to Six Flags Great America, I look for the American Eagle. You can’t miss it. It’s 4,650 feet long, and the red and blue trains climb up 127 feet on a lift hill. For some maniacal reason, I always want to get on the front of every roller coaster ride, including this one. But it never fails. Every single time the Six Flags employees wave me over to hop in a roller coaster seat, I always think the same thing: “Why am I getting on this ride?

I could start with the quiet, lonely hours before I pushed my daughter out, tangled up in hospital wires and terrified. I could start with the tender darkness of our recovery room, the beam of Avi’s iPhone flashlight on my chest as I learned to breastfeed, tears tracing my cheeks at the white-hot pain. I could start with our alarms: midnight, 2am, 4am, 6am. Or the nurse who held my hips while she lined my underwear with four thick pads, more than I thought could fit in a single pair.

Lonni, this made my whole day!!! Don’t worry, the newsletter isn’t going anywhere, it will continue with lots of free recipes on, I’m just pausing the paid portion of the newsletter. This is one of my favorite platforms to share my recipes on and I’m so grateful to have you here!!! Expand full comment ncG1vNJzZmibkae8rbXNmp6epJWje7TBwayrmpubY7CwuY6pZmxoXaK2r8HTnmScqpWWurp5wpqpmqWVoba7scNmnZ6mnpq5cK%2FOpqSepqSo

Happy belated Mother’s Day! Yesterday was my sixth - seventh if you include the period my surrogate was pregnant with my son. Ours was quiet, save for lunch when our groceries, an Amazon delivery and our takeout came at the same time! My son didn’t bring anything home from school this year (several moms on our chat group sort of complained. I get it’s a sensitive time for some, but it doesn’t stop kids from making crafts for a “special family member or friend,” which is what my son’s previous school did) but did make something cute at home.

A gorgeous, painful meditation on finding meaning and community, particularly in early adolescence, and where professional sports play a role in all of that. I remember rooting for the Chicago Bulls throughout late elementary and early high school. Pittsburgh doesn't have a basketball team, and when I saw the way Derrick Rose played at Memphis, I told myself I would root for wherever he ended up. Flash forward to now and I'm half and half, Penguins & Steelers, Sixers and Phillies (sometimes Pirates).