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Callie Feyen

Right Now

in Uncategorized on 29/04/14

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{Sharing} my desk with Hadley. She’s currently doing research for her Science Fair project next month.  She’s doing her project on lightening. As in thunder and lightening, “and Mama? Can I like, make lightening for my project?” I told her to ask her Dad. Hadley then told me that she is also planning on participating on the Talent Show her school is putting on.  “I’ll be singing ‘Let it Go.'” I told her that no, she wasn’t going to be singing in the talent show.  “Why, Mama?”  I told her for many reasons, but one of them was that every girl in her school will probably be singing “Let it Go.”  Hadley said this was not the truth.  That in fact, one of her classmates is singing a song about a heart attack.

{Looking forward to} the weekend.  It’ll be a fun one, folks. We’ve got the Cougar Dash, we’ve got the Listen to Your Mother show, and my niece Mabel Day will be making her DC debut. I cannot wait to see her and I’m hoping her parents will allow me to take her on stage with me.  She’ll be a great accessory to the essay I’m reading.

{Reading} Barbara Kingsolver’s Small Wonder.  She started writing it on September 12, 2001 and realized that writing about small things was a way to look at and sort of dig her way out of grief. One of the things she finds out is this: “God is frightful, God is great – you pick. I choose this: God is in the details, the completely unnecessary miracles sometimes tossed up as stars to guide us.”  I read these words and thought that every essay I’ve written in the last two years has to do with these words. I’m not writing about how He’s always protected and guided me, or about doing His will. I’m writing about the unnecessary stuff: the buzz of cicadas, the rush of the Chicago el that lulled me to sleep every night for 18 years, the callous I get at the beginning of each Spring (ok, fine, the first warm day in February) that allows me to wear flip flops every day until October, the grit from the gymnasium floor that I felt underneath my fingers moments before I performed at half-time, the moment I learned what a good hem is, the heat from the tar of my cousin Tara’s driveway as we skateboarded down it, all of these unnecessary stars are what I hope sparkle in my stories. But no lesson. No moral. Just unnecessary stars.

Six Years Ago: Hadley at a year and a half. There’s a picture at the end of Hadley and her little buddy in the swings at a park nearby. Two nights ago, the two of them created surveys of which bird and sea creature everyone at the table liked best while they waited for their dinner at Dogfish Alehouse. Old friends, these two.

Five Years Ago: A picture of Hadley and Harper at the same age in the same outfit. Can you tell the difference? Also, some lessons learned at a “Mommy and Me” outing.  Good gracious I’m so glad I don’t have to go to those anymore. New moms – you don’t have to go to them if you don’t want to. I promise you your kids will not end up in therapy figuring out that all their problems are due to the fact that you did not take them to “Mommy and Me” events.

Four Years Ago: Hadley got to go to “Take Your Kid To Work Day,” with Jesse.  I’m glad I wrote about it because this year Hadley and Harper got jipped.  Jesse went to the Senate to talk about hurricanes (I think his talk was titled, “Hurricanes: They’re For Real So Give Me Money To Research Them So My Wife Can Buy Flip Flops.”) while I took the girls to work with me. Which means the girls got to watch me scrub the toilets. I’m just kidding. I don’t scrub the toilets.

Three Years Ago:  You know, just another trip to the White House.

Two Years Ago: An apologetics on writing about my children.

One Year Ago: A baseball story.

6 Comments

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Comments

  1. Jess at Welcome to the Bundle says

    April 29, 2014 at 2:03 pm

    The “Four Years Ago” paragraph made me laugh out loud. “I’m just kidding. I don’t scrub toilets.” I might just use that as a punchline to everything I say for the next few days, whether or not I’m talking about toilets. Although, knowing me, I’ll be talking about toilets.

    Reply
    • calliefeyen says

      May 5, 2014 at 10:58 am

      Honestly, I think “I’m just kidding. I don’t scrub toilets” takes care of so many conversations that it could work in a lot of situations. I’m going to try it today.

      Reply
  2. Kellee says

    April 29, 2014 at 8:52 pm

    Great post. I am terrified of mommy and me events. Can’t wait to see you guys. And when did Hadley start looking so old?!

    Reply
    • calliefeyen says

      May 5, 2014 at 10:57 am

      Kellee, I can assure you that those mommy and me events are slightly short of a waste of time. They’re exhausting. They do make for good stories, though. 🙂

      Hadley did get old, didn’t she? How did that happen?

      Reply
  3. Kristi Campbell says

    May 5, 2014 at 10:26 pm

    I tried mommy and me stuff for YEARS. Until they sucked, too badly to attend. I love your voice and your daughter is awesome. I see her face and can just picture “____ _____!!!” that I don’t know if I’m allowed to say yet because we’re not yet posting our stories, right?? You were amazing yesterday. I love that I found you in this big bloggy world. So much. <3

    Reply
    • calliefeyen says

      May 6, 2014 at 5:59 am

      Thanks, Kristi! I think one of the best “mommy and me” events I ever attended was the LTYM show on Sunday! Hahaha! That’s what mamas need – a place to sit around and tell our stories. It makes us all better people, I think.

      Reply

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Hi! I’m Callie. I’m a writer and teacher living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I write Creative Nonfiction, and in my oldest daughter Hadley’s words, I “use my imagination to add a bit of sparkle to the story.” I’m a contributor for Coffee+Crumbs, Off the Page, Makes You Mom, and Relief Journal. My writing has also been featured on Art House America, Tweetspeak Poetry, Good Letters, and Altarwork, and in 2014 I was one of the cast members of the Listen To Your Mother DC show.

I hold an MFA in Creative Writing from Seattle Pacific University, and I am working on my first book that will be published through TS Poetry Press.

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When I was in fourth grade, I got my front tooth k When I was in fourth grade, I got my front tooth knock out during a baseball game. I was in the dugout, trying to make a butterfly in the dirt with my shoe. The batter, who’d hit not just a home run, but a grand slam, came running in and everyone cheered and so did I because I’d gotten really good at reading cues for when a good thing happens in sports. I even attempted a high five, and somehow I knocked my face into her batting helmet, thus spending the good part of that weekend summer day in the dentist’s office getting a root canal.

No teeth were lost in this latest incident, but I was lost in a bit of imagining on Sunday when I tripped and fell on Packard while running. I look like I’ve been in a bar fight and my shoulder looks similar to how Wesley’s looked after being attacked by an ROUS. 

But I’m going into work today, and when I told my boss I’m nervous about how I look she said, “It’s OK because you have a story,” and if that isn’t the best thing you could ever say to me, I’m not sure what is. 

So, here I am with a story. Thanks to all my friends and family who’ve been so kind and keeping me laughing.
A little Mother’s Day dancing is so good for the A little Mother’s Day dancing is so good for the soul. Thank you, @woodsbreeana 💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
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