Author: Allison Slater Tate

For Shame

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Pregnancy — the four times I enjoyed it — brought a lot of anxiety into my life. I was 27 when I conceived my firstborn. I had lived most of my life fearing report cards and test scores and admission letters and phone calls that told me whether or not I received The Job, just…

Only a Test

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“It’s okay, Mom, it’s only a test,” my 9 year old says almost convincingly as he brushes off my attempts to give him a pep talk. His eyes won’t meet mine, and I know his bravado is thin. For the past week, both my older boys have had the chance to indulge in that new…

One

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Today, my baby girl is one year old.   A year and a day ago, I went to my weekly perinatologist appointment at the hospital. I had recently contracted Fifth Disease for the first time — after all three of my boys had it within the span of a month — and because I had…

Patriot Day

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Several weeks ago, I was driving my kids to the weekly tennis lesson when my kindergartner piped up from the backseat, “Mom, how old do you have to be to die?” I paused. I made a split-second decision. “People of all ages die, buddy,” I answered matter-of-factly, holding my breath. “What?” he asked, as if…

Watershed

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I read a newspaper article once that analyzed why, in a world run by evolution and survival of the fittest, musicians survived. After all, in the time of cavemen, survival depended upon physical strength and the ability to feed yourself and others, not the ability to play “Piano Man” to a group of swooning cavewomen….

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